


Familiar Steps

by Miki_San



Series: Cinders of a Healing Heart [1]
Category: Fire Emblem Series, Fire Emblem: Fuukasetsugetsu | Fire Emblem: Three Houses
Genre: Alternate Universe - Time Travel, Crimson Flower, Emotional Manipulation, F/F, Golden Path, Hurt/Comfort, No Lesbians Die, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD, Slow Burn, saving Fodlan with the power of gay
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-11-05
Updated: 2020-12-26
Packaged: 2021-03-08 23:13:42
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 11
Words: 31,923
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27394786
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Miki_San/pseuds/Miki_San
Summary: After choosing the Church over Edelgard, Byleth is defeated when Rhea goes berserk.  Her only hope is to turn back the hands of time and fight alongside the one person who saw this coming.However, the new timeline almost immediately diverges from what Byleth is used to.  Due to differences in the way she handles the initial battle in Remire, the original Black Eagles professor is found and returned to Garreg Mach.  Instead of becoming a professor, Byleth is instead invited to become a student at the school.  Initially, she is relieved to have less on her plate, but things turn sour quickly when this new professor starts throwing major wrenches in her plan.
Relationships: Edelgard von Hresvelg/My Unit | Byleth
Series: Cinders of a Healing Heart [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2001262
Comments: 35
Kudos: 134
Collections: Edeleth Big Bang 2020





	1. Heart of Flame

Byleth felt she would never get used to the feeling of Divine Pulse. It was as if something deep in her heart trembled, sending a rippling, tingling sensation through the rest of her body. She steeled her thoughts on the desired time, bracing for more of the same. She couldn’t have been more wrong.

As soon as the familiar purple glow filled her vision, a searing, burning pain pierced her heart. She clutched at her rib cage, desperately trying to pry the searing ember from her chest for even just a moment’s relief. As she knelt on the floor, clawing at the fire in her bosom, the fires of Garreg Mach cooled. Pieces of the monastery reformed around her, and finally the reception hall as she remembered it faded into view. As Divine Pulse’s power petered, she saw herself using faith magic on an injured student, using the lessons Rhea had taught her. Rhea gave her the usual praise and asked if she wanted to take a walk. She was like the mother Byleth always wanted, and Byleth strove to become the perfect servant of the Church for her. Little did Rhea know there was resentment building up in her daughter’s heart, and little did Byleth know this conversation would lead to her mother’s sudden rampage and the destruction of Garreg Mach.

No, this wasn’t far enough. She had to refocus her thoughts. Bracing herself, she re-imagined her goal. She imagined the distinct look of her father’s cabin, the sound of Edelgard’s voice as she introduced herself for the first time, the smell of the woods where that important battle took place moments later. To her simultaneous delight and dismay, the burning picked up again, and her environment faded once more.

She went back further and saw glimpses of a Shadow Library deep beneath the Church’s surface. A house laid dormant in the castle’s depths that had been collecting forbidden knowledge right under the nose of the Church for years. At first it infuriated her. How dare they spread such blasphemy!? And yet...it explained so many unanswered questions Rhea had never answered. The Javelins of Light certainly looked like what the books described, and her sword certainly looked like it could be made of bones. She would go on to make many shady deals to seek as many banned books as she could find, hoarding forbidden knowledge like the dragon race she apparently shared blood with. Time and time again she corroborated the information in the Shadow Library with other sources from different times and places. Time and time again, she felt her faith in the Church slowly chipped away.

Byleth’s hair and clothing were caked with sweat, and the burning sensation had escalated into a piercing pain unlike any she experienced before. It was like being stabbed through the heart with a spear. And yet, even this wasn’t far enough. She had already given the woman who abused her too much power. She steeled herself with thoughts of her mission. _I have to get back to her. I need to be close to her again. I need her help._

Finally, images played of a more comforting time: a time when she taught at Garreg Mach as the professor of the Black Eagles class. She cared about all her students deeply, but there was one she became especially close to. Edelgard von Hresvelg, the princess of the Adrestian Empire, was her closest ally and confidant. Byleth saw herself practicing battle techniques with the young princess, saw herself teaching her how to command small strike forces against large foreign armies, saw herself acting as a shoulder to cry on when Edelgard opened up about her trauma. Byleth wanted more than anything to hold those responsible accountable, but when Edelgard pointed the finger at her own mother, she shut her eyes and pretended she didn’t see. Her eyes were open now though, and open they would stay.

Before she could react, she felt herself fall on her bed full force. Slowly, she lifted herself up. She was back in her old room at her father’s cabin for the first time in six years. She panted, in desperate need of water. Her body felt like it had been hollowed out from the inside and all that remained was fire. From what she knew, that might not be far from the truth. Hair matted with sweat fell in front of her face. It had reverted to its original blue. Seteth was right, the crest stone inside her had been burned away. She was now mortal once more.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you so much for reading my story ^.^! I plan on updating on Saturdays and sometimes Sundays, so expect Chapters 2 and 3 this weekend. This is my major fic of this kind, so any feedback is definitely appreciated. I want to improve my writing for future projects :p! Anyway, thanks again for taking the time to read my story, and I hope you enjoy the rest of “Cinders of a Healing Heart” ^.^!


	2. Memories Best Forgotten

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Jeralt has a particularly confusing morning.

Jeralt was examining an axe in the living room when Byleth burst through the door from her bedroom.

“Hey kid, ho-”

“Water!!”

“What’s going-”

“WATER!!”

His stomach turned as he noticed something on her face he never saw before: fear. This woman’s entire reputation centered on her ability to face the horrors of the battlefield without so much as a grimace, and something had her _terrified_.

By the time he could react, Byleth had already rushed outside, knocking over the weapons rack and spilling a bundle of lances onto the floor. He followed her out to find her kneeling on the ground, gulping down water from a nearby puddle that had formed in the morning’s rain.

“Aw, c’mon kid! You don’t know what’s swimming around in there!” he yelled as he ran over to her.

She either ignored him or didn’t care. After what felt like minutes, she finished by splashing some large handfuls of water onto her face before sinking down onto her knees. Her chest heaved with a few heavy breaths before finally relaxing.

“So are you going to tell me what the hell just happened?” Jeralt demanded.

Byleth looked up at him, her monotonous gaze returning. She appeared to meter out her response a beat longer than usual, as if she were soaking in his presence for some reason.

“Bad dream,” she finally replied.

Jeralt sighed. If that was a bad dream, it must have been the worst she’d ever had. Granted, he knew from years as a mercenary that nightmares were a frequent side effect on the battlefield, but most people didn’t chug a liter of dirty water in response to them. It just wasn’t adding up.

“Listen, I don’t know what happened here, but if anything’s wrong I want you to tell me right away. Got it?”

Byleth nodded. He supposed that would have to do for now. Still, he made a mental note to keep an eye on her. Psychological problems like that only fester when left unchecked.

“C’mon, let’s get back inside.”

But Byleth was busy gazing out at the rising sun.

“Sunrise was about an hour ago,” he commented, hoping to answer her question and lure her back indoors, “Now get back in here, we’ve got a lot to do to get ready for our mission in the-”

“They’ll be here soon.” It was so quiet Jeralt almost didn’t hear her.

“What was that?”

“They’ll be here soon.”

Byleth rushed back into the house and began donning her armor. Jeralt grimaced whenever he saw her take it out. He owned very little armor designed for a woman’s figure, so when she was old enough he took her up to Gaspard to buy something that fit her better. To his abject horror, she became enamored with a pair of fishnet stockings for no other reason than because “the pattern made her look like a lizard.”

After much pestering, he finally agreed to let her wear them if he could pick out more functional armor pieces for the rest of her outfit. He tried his best to find something that matched her aesthetic tastes but was still practical on the battlefield. She claimed to like the ensemble, but it was hard to tell when she talked about it with such a monotone expression. But then again, that’s exactly how she looked when she told him about the stockings, so it’s possible she was being sincere.

Deep down he hoped she would eventually outgrow the outfit, either physically or emotionally, but here they were 5 years later and still going strong. At least he convinced her to go with the black stockings, and not the orange ones she originally picked out.

Jeralt’s flashback ended, and he realized Byleth was already equipping her sword.

“Before you do that, help me set up the convoy.”

“No time.”

“What do ya mean no time!?”

“We won’t need it.”

“How do you expect to walk to the Kingdom with no convoy?”

“We’re not going to the Kingdom.”

“I- We-” at this point Jeralt was dumbfounded, “What do you mean we’re not going to the Kingdom!?”

“There are bandits in the forest, they take priority.”

Jeralt grabbed Byleth by both shoulders. Letting her arms go slack, she looked up at him with the same expressionless gaze she had worn for the last 20 years of her life.

“Byleth, please tell me what’s going on. Did you see these bandits in your dream? If that’s what you’re worried about I went out on patrol at sunrise and saw nothing. I can assure you there’s-”

He was cut off by the unmistakable sound of magic hitting steel. It was a loud crack, like a tree being snapped in two.

“What the hell?”

Before he could look back at her, Byleth wiggled out of his grasp and charged towards the door. He rushed out after her to see her chatting with three kids about her age. Their affluent uniforms made Jeralt think they must be nobility from some nearby academy. In fact, he had seen those uniforms before...

He sighed in frustration. He always knew Garreg Mach would find him someday, but even with 20 years’ time to prepare, the thought of being rediscovered by Rhea still terrified him.

 _If I don’t ask questions or mention my past, maybe they'll leave without telling Byleth where they’re from_ , he said to himself as he approached the group, though he struggled to make himself believe it.

“I take it this must be your father,” said the noble in red, “your daughter has already given you a glowing introduction, but if you don’t mind me asking...Jeralt Eisner...wasn’t that the name of the renowned captain of the Knights of Seiros who disappeared almost 20 years ago? The one they used to call the Blade Breaker?”

So much for not talking about his past.

“That was a long time ago, just Jeralt will do.”

“Jeralt the Blade Breaker?” the noble in yellow this time, “I’d love to pick your brain about what Garreg Mach was like 20 years ago. I can imagine a lot has changed.”

“I’m sorry to interrupt, but I’m afraid we don’t have the luxury of time,” the noble in blue chimed in, “We’re being pursued by a group of bandits and have been separated from our companions. We lost them in the forest nearby, but it won’t take long for them to track us here. If you could lend us some aid, we have access to plenty of gold to make it worth your while.”

Jeralt turned to look back north. There was no way he could rout these bandits and make it to his job in the Kingdom in time. Today's events had already put them behind schedule to begin with. However, he also didn’t feel comfortable letting these bandits run rampant around Remire, especially not ones reckless enough to jump a convoy of esteemed nobles.

“You have our aid,” he finally said, “Alright kid, we don’t have much prep time for this one so we’d might as well leave it to the five of us here. Who knows what they could do in the time it took to set up a battalion...hey...kid?”

But Byleth was already running towards the forest. He barely caught a glimpse of her as she disappeared into the thicket at its edge.

“Aw, C’MON KID!! Don’t just run in unprepared!!”

What the hell had come over her recently? He turned back to the three nobles.

“I’m going to see if I can catch up to her,” he said, “you three watch behind me.”

All three affirmed the instructions and got into formation behind the captain. He tried calling out one more time.

“KID!!”

No use. He just hoped she wasn’t already being slaughtered.

Jeralt lunged over stumps and stray branches, determined to catch up with his reckless daughter. At least she left an easy trail to follow.

Eventually, the thicket opened up to reveal a large clearing. He saw a slew of bodies, but none of them were Byleth’s. In fact, Byleth was already cutting up the bandits’ rather rugged leader when they arrived. She looked back at the group stumbling their way into the clearing, her face and torso soaked with blood.

“Bandits are taken care of,” she said flatly.

Awkward silence hung in the air for what felt like minutes. Jeralt knew that his kid wasn’t some sweet Church girl, but this was a ruthless level of efficiency even for her. He noticed the three nobles stiffen up behind him as well. If she wasn’t careful, she was going to make some powerful figures afraid of her, and he knew firsthand that fear was often more violent than hate.

It was the noble in blue that ultimately broke the silence.

“Oh look, the banner of the Knights of Seiros. That must be Alois coming to get us.”

Fear shot through Jeralt’s spine like a lightning bolt. This couldn’t be happening. He spent so many years preventing this from ever happening.

“Alright kid, we have to move if we’re going to get to the Kingdom with any daylight left,” he said to Byleth, trying to hide the panic in his voice.

“I want to see the Knights,” she responded flatly.

Jeralt felt like he could wring her neck. Could one thing go his way today? Just one. That’s all he wanted.

“Listen,” he tried to whisper so the three nobles couldn’t hear him, though he could feel their eyes boring into him when he leaned in closer, “these aren’t the type of people you want to associate with. We’re best off staying far away from-”

“You don’t have to lie anymore, I know all your secrets.” Jeralt froze as Byleth looked him straight in the eye. “You used to work for the Knights of Seiros. You were known as Jeralt the Blade Breaker. One day you saved a woman named Rhea’s life, but were gravely wounded. She gave you some of her blood to heal the wounds. That’s how you’ve lived so many years without appearing to age. Then I was born, my mother didn’t survive, and I had no heartbeat. It made you suspicious of Lady Rhea, so when a fire broke out a few months later, you faked my death and fled the monastery with me. We’ve been living as mercenaries ever since.”

Every once in a while something happened that reminded Jeralt of his daughter’s intimidating reputation. The other mercenaries called her the “Ashen Demon” for the way she killed on the battlefield without a hint of emotion. Now, she was telling him his own deepest secrets with the same icy stare. Did she find his journal? No, he started that years after the incident saving Lady Rhea. Then where did she learn it?

“By the way, that changed this morning,” she said, just as monotone as ever, “I have a heartbeat now.”

Normally that would have surprised him, but Jeralt felt too drained from the days’ events to react. His head hurt, and in a way the situation made him feel small.

“You were right to take me away from her though,” Byleth continued, “she wanted to use me as a human sacrifice to revive the Goddess. She didn’t care about my life.”

Ok, sure, whatever. He wasn’t even listening anymore.

“Jeralt!?” a voice cut in from behind them.

Oh boy.

“Captain Jeralt!? It IS you!! Goddess, it’s been 20 years! Do you remember me?”

“Yes Alois...still as loud as ever I see...”

Byleth was beaming, though once again Jeralt couldn’t guess why. He still felt numb from her exposé just a few moments ago.

“And what do we have here? Are you the captain’s child?”

“I’m a bandit,” she said, leaning over and wriggling her fingers like a child telling a ghost story.

Alois burst out into his trademark boisterous laughter.

“A jokester, this one! I think you and I will get along just fine!”

Alois’s eyes widened in that way they did when he had an idea. That was never a good sign.

“Hey, you should join the Officer’s Academy! If I informed the Archbishop that you saved the lives of these three students, I’m sure she’d let you attend!”

“Sorry Alois,” Jeralt interrupted, “There’s no way I can afford Garreg Mach’s tuition with the work I’m doing now.”

“Nonsense! If we can’t give a scholarship to the daughter of the Blade Breaker and the savior of our very own students, I don’t know who they’re for! C’mon, I won’t take no for an answer!”

Then he had another idea.

“Oh, there’s someone I want to introduce you to!” he exclaimed, then turned to shout behind him, “The coast is clear, Lord Edgar! I have a new student I want you to meet!”

A man shuffled into view from behind the nearby trees. He wore a long cloak customary for mages of high nobility in the Empire, but Jeralt couldn’t place the face.

“This is Professor Edgar Gerth,” Alois gushed, slapping the professor on the back as he spoke, “he’ll be teaching the Black Eagles of the Adrestian Empire this year!”

Gerth introduced himself to Jeralt with a handshake and a smile.

“I’ve heard so many stories about you,” he said, “it’s an honor to meet you in person.”

“The pleasure is mine,” in reality Jeralt was experiencing the exact opposite of pleasure, but he wasn’t about to say that to a member of a noble house.

Gerth turned his attention to Byleth.

“I hope you’ll consider taking Alois’s offer and joining my class,” he said smiling.

Byleth didn’t respond, her cheerful demeanor twisted into one of pale confusion. It looked like she might throw up.

“A little shy are we? It’s alright, I know the prospect of being whisked away to a far off land can be overwhelming. However, think of all the opportunities that await you with a Garreg Mach education! You may end up serving in the armies of the Emperor himself!” Byleth continued to stare back at him like he was some supernatural being.

“Well, I fear we must be getting ready to be on our way. If we’re going to be walking the rest of the trip, we may not make it until the sun has already risen.”

He turned back towards the three nobles, who already made some headway without him. Byleth continued to stare at his back with the same mortified expression.

Jeralt let out a long, pained sigh. It was happening, and there was no way for him to say no. Now that Alois knew he was alive and wandering Fodlan, Rhea would scout every nook and cranny until she found him, and he’d much rather face her on his own terms now than whatever would happen later.

He was still concerned about Byleth’s recent behavior though.

“Hey kid, you ok? What’s got you so pale?” he inquired.

It took a moment for Byleth to respond.

“He’s not supposed to be here…” she whispered before running to catch up with the others. Jeralt ran a hand across the side of his fatigued face. He was going to need a _large_ drink after all this.


	3. The Ashen Demon

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Edelgard and Hubert discuss their new classmate and how she might change their plans.

Edelgard fiddled nervously with the clasp of her glove, waiting for Hubert to arrive. Just to the north of the Officer’s Academy courtyard was a corridor that allowed her some privacy while also letting her monitor the students entering the various classrooms. The space wasn’t completely hidden, but it was enough for an innocuous conversation between a princess and her retainer to go on without prying eyes or ears.

She couldn’t help but let her mind wander to the other night in Remire. Her goal had been to scare Professor Gerth away from the monastery. Not only was he intensely loyal to the Church, even more so than his father, he was also the most insufferable noble Edelgard had ever met. It wouldn’t do to have someone like that in a position where he could keep such a close eye on her.

She assumed Dimitri and Claude would help her protect their professor, after which she would subtly inform him that if he wanted to return to the safety of his manor, she would arrange it no questions asked. Instead, Claude fled at the first opportunity, forcing Edelgard and Dimitri to follow suit. Kostas worked for the Flame Emperor, who he believed to be a different person from Edelgard. In fact, he believed the Flame Emperor wanted Edelgard dead. It was only by running into the Blade Breaker and his daughter of all people she survived, but now the two of them introduced a couple variables that were previously unaccounted for in her scheme.

“I apologize for the delay Lady Edelgard,” came a voice from behind her, snapping her out of her thoughts, “I pray you did not wait long due to my tardiness.”

“No need to apologize,” she responded with a smile, “I haven’t been here long.”

“I’m glad to hear it,” Hubert replied with a bow, “I researched the background of this Byleth Eisner, and it seems you were right to have some concerns. As you know, she is the daughter of Jeralt the Blade Breaker, a mercenary who not only has a history as a powerful ally of the Church but also a history of shifty behavior. He faked his own death about 20 years ago and no record exists of his whereabouts since then. Not until now that is.”

“And then there is the girl herself,” he continued, “She’s known as the ‘Ashen Demon,’ a nickname supposedly given to her because of the utter lack of remorse she shows on the battlefield. I believe you got a taste of that the other night when she slayed those bandits. She doesn’t appear to bear any crest, but as you have seen she is surprisingly powerful.”

Edelgard thought back to that night. She held no sympathy for a murderous cheat like Kostas, but seeing his body flayed in front of her sent chills up even her spine. Hubert continued.

“That said, for someone who grew up a commoner, she knows a surprising amount about the Church and the nobles of Fodlan. I haven’t seen her meet a student yet whose name she didn’t already know. Captain Jeralt seems equally confused about where she obtained this knowledge.”

He scratched his chin.

“Though the thing that still bothers me the most is how eager Lady Rhea is to have her as a student. She not only gave her a full year’s scholarship, she opened an additional spot in any house she wanted. That hasn’t happened before in either of our lifetimes.”

Edelgard tilted her head in curiosity.

“And which house did she choose?”

“Ours,” Hubert responded solemnly, “however I have yet to discover a motive. It may have been a random decision.”

Edelgard nodded.

“Thank you for the report Hubert.”

She rubbed the tip of her gloved hand on her temple, as she commonly did when lost in thought.

“Byleth seemed exceptionally eager to travel back to Garreg Mach with us, which is intriguing in itself. Perhaps she’s always wanted a change of direction and this was the first opportunity that came her way? As for Rhea’s reaction, I assume it is so she can recruit her into her services later. She is the daughter of the Blade Breaker after all.”

“If that were the case she would have enlisted the woman already,” Hubert shot back, “From what I’ve seen, she’s the person in least need of training out of our entire class.”

“Really?” Edelgard raised an eyebrow playfully, “I thought you would have claimed that to be me, whether I deserved it or not!”

“I never give out praise I don’t feel is warranted Lady Edelgard,” he said shaking his head, “and in this case, I stand by what I said. You are exceptionally powerful, but this woman carries herself like one who has seen several years of war.”

Then a more pensive gaze.

“Whatever happened in her past, I wonder how much of her lived through it.”

Edelgard stared at the ground. She knew all too well how a traumatic past could turn someone into a shell of themselves. What happened to this “Ashen Demon” to make her so apathetic to the act of taking a life?

Then Hubert’s voice turned darker than normal, a feat Edelgard didn’t think possible.

“One last thing that bothers me, not even Byleth seems to know who her mother is. The immense amount of kindness Rhea is showing her, almost to the point of suspected bribery... as I said, it is... concerning…”

Edelgard’s eyes widened.

“Hubert... are you suggesting…”

But Hubert interrupted her.

“Ah, that appears to be Gerth, right on schedule. We wouldn’t want to be late on our first day, especially not with a professor we don’t want snooping in our affairs.”

“You’re right, but I wish to continue this conversation later,” she said, “what you’re suggesting about Byleth and Rhea, it’s troubling at best.”

“Understood, I am available whenever you call Lady Edelgard.”

With a sigh, Edelgard turned towards the three color-coded classrooms. She had been putting this off, but it seemed now she would have to meet her fate. Of all the Adrestian nobles, Edgar Gerth, second son of House Gerth, was one of Edelgard’s least favorite. Like many of her least favorite nobles, he believed he knew the intricacies of the world, when in reality he knew little about life outside his cushy noble upbringing. Edelgard still remembered when house Gerth visited Enbarr shortly after the death of her siblings, and Edgar, like the wise older brother he saw himself as, gave her a lengthy pep talk about how illness could take her family away but it would never take away her ability to have a positive attitude. He was full of cheerful platitudes at all the wrong moments.

“Lady Edelgard, it’s nice to see you again!” Professor Gerth bellowed as she walked into the classroom.

“Likewise,” she replied, wearing what she hoped appeared to be a genuine smile, “I hope you were able to get some sleep in this morning.”

“Oh, don’t worry about me,” he said with a wave of his hand, “what about you?”

Her busy schedule didn’t allow for much sleep in the first place, but especially not when it was thrown for a loop by a trip taking twice as long as expected. That said, admitting she got no sleep last night wasn’t the princessly answer, and making Gerth believe she was sleeping gave her a good alibi for the activity she and Hubert were really up to.

“I had a rather nice nap in my new dorm, it’s quite comfortable.”

“Good to hear,” Gerth replied with a smile, “sit anywhere you’d like. I’m not one of those professors who does assigned seating.”

He put ‘assigned seating’ in air quotes while fake cringing, as if this act of rebellion made him the relaxed, cool professor who got along with all the students.

The Black Eagles classroom was already rather full, and though she found a few unoccupied seats here and there, it was difficult to find two next to each other that she and Hubert could use. Hubert lightly elbowed her side and gestured towards two seats next to Byleth.

“We’re going to have to gather some information on her eventually,” Edelgard whispered, “now’s as good a time as any.”

They approached the two empty seats to Byleth’s right, prompting the woman to look up to see who approached her. Her arms remained slack on each side of her body and her face remained expressionless, giving her an appearance closer to a doll being rotated than a human being turning around.

“Do you mind if Hubert and I sit here?” Edelgard asked.

Byleth smiled.

“Go ahead.”

Edelgard took her seat and began to set up her paper and quill, but she couldn’t shake the feeling of being watched. She turned back to Byleth, who sure enough was staring intently at Edelgard, a red carnation grasped firmly in her outstretched hands.

She could hear Dorothea suppressing a giggle behind her as blood rushed to her face. Carnations were her favorite flowers, but they also had a very specific meaning in Fodlan.

“Oh, thank you,” she said, taking the flower and turning it over in her hand, “I have to ask though...if you’re trying to say what I think you are...”

Byleth cocked her head sideways like a confused puppy. This was going to be awkward.

“Well,” she said with a pause, “traditionally you give someone red carnations to tell them you love them.”

Byleth’s face turned beet red and she looked down at the floor. She opened her mouth multiple times to speak, but no words came out. Dorothea, meanwhile, was close to losing it in the row behind them.

“I’m sorry…” Byleth eventually croaked.

Edelgard couldn’t help but feel a little bad. Sure the gesture was awkward, but it had an innocence to it that was refreshing after spending the last few days arguing with manipulative nobles.

“It is a beautiful flower though,” she said, tucking it safely into the clasp of her cape. She wasn’t sure if Byleth noticed or not.

“It looks like we have everyone here,” Professor Gerth yelled, “so we’d might as well get started.”

He leaned against the desk at the front of the classroom.

“Welcome everyone to your first day at Garreg Mach Officer’s Academy! First off, I want to congratulate all of you on making it here. Seriously, all of you, give yourselves a round of applause!”

A few awkward claps came from the confused students.

“As I’m sure you’re all well aware, this is the most prestigious academy in all of Fodlan. An education from Garreg Mach will get you respect from even the highest of nobles. I should know, I am one!”

Edelgard rolled her eyes. Just get on with it!

“This Wednesday we’ll be having a Mock Battle with the other two houses,” he continued, “it’s your first chance to get out there and show us all what you can do!”

“But!” he exclaimed while raising a single finger, “no matter how well you do individually, we’ll never win if we don’t work together as a team. So let’s talk about our team strategy!”

“The battlefield is laid out as follows,” he explained, drawing a crude diagram on the chalkboard at the front of the room, “we are starting down here to the south, the Golden Deer will start over here to the west, and the Blue Lions will start here to the north. The three positions are technically equidistant from one another, but a forest and a fence stand between our two opponents, meaning our friends from the Leicester Alliance will most likely focus on us before moving on to fighting the Kingdom.”

He drew two arrows with yellow chalk down to the red X, symbolizing the Golden Deer students charging the Black Eagles’ starting location.

“However, the Blue Lions only have one direction to go when the battle starts, and that is south,” he said, drawing blue arrows going downward on the chalkboard, “if we play our cards right, we may be able to set up the battlefield so they meet the Golden Deer before they meet any of us, forcing the Deer to fight on two fronts.”

It seemed like a solid plan, Edelgard had no objections. Byleth, however, raised her hand. This would be interesting.

“Ah...Miss Eisner correct? Do you have a question?”

“From what I’ve heard, Dimitri and Hanneman both take a very cautious approach when fighting battles like this. If we’re not careful, the Blue Lions may sit to the side and watch while the Black Eagles and Golden Deer wear each other down. Our best bet is most likely to move to the East and hide ourselves in the forests there, making it harder for the Golden Deer to take us head on. If we’re lucky, they’ll run into some Blue Lions students in their confusion and do us the favor of taking each other out.”

It was an intriguing strategy, one that fit the Dimitri she knew more than the plan presented by Professor Gerth. Sure Dimitri had a dark side, she had even heard stories of his violent suppression of the Western Rebellion in the Kingdom a few years ago, but when he had his wits about him Dimitri was no one to rush into a conflict he didn’t need to be in. Professor Gerth, however, furrowed his brow.

“Miss Eisner,” he said with a chuckle, “I’ve been studying military strategy for nearly two decades now, and I can assure you that no 17-year-old boy will sit aside and watch from the sidelines when there is glory to be won on the battlefield.”

He flipped the chalkboard to the other side to start on a clean slate.

“Now, let’s talk about our formation. In order to do that, I need to ask all of you some questions about your talents and what you hope to accomplish during your tenure here at Garreg Mach. Let’s start with you Miss Eisner. Which certifications do you wish to study for?”

“I use sword and faith professor.”

Gerth gave off a deep, hearty laugh.

“Ah, I think there may have been a misunderstanding. In most high end schools like this one, certification exams are given at certain intervals throughout the year. Passing these exams for the class of your choice will be necessary if you wish to be employed in any official military capacity as a member of that class, or if you wish to use the class during your missions this school year. There are plenty of certifications to choose from. Perhaps you’d like to switch the faith magic to reason and become a mortal savant? Or maybe you’d rather get rid of the sword and become a gremory instead?”

Byleth shook her head.

“I’m not interested in filling a predefined box in any military,” she explained, “I already know my path, and it requires me to polish up my sword and faith skills.”

The professor’s left eye twitched ever so subtly.

“Well for now,” he said slowly and deliberately, “if you had to choose between sword and faith, which would you choose?”

“I suppose I’d use my sword.”

Professor Gerth nodded in approval.

“We should be able to make that work,” he said, a thoughtful hand running along the side of his face, “perhaps your commoner sensibilities would lend you well to being a thief.”

Edelgard tried to bite her tongue, but couldn’t hold herself back.

“Excuse me,” she said, not bothering to even raise her hand, “that was a completely inappropriate comment. I’d appreciate it if you’d apologize to Byleth and amend your behavior in the future.”

“I apologize for upsetting you Lady Edelgard,” Professor Gerth grinned, “I promise I will not make such remarks again.”

He turned back to the chalkboard, but Edelgard wasn’t satisfied.

“Ahem. I believe I asked you to apologize to Byleth, not to me.”

Professor Gerth turned back to face the princess, his eyes boring into her. He obviously hated her guts, but he was her father’s subject, and would soon be her’s.

“Very well, Lady Edelgard,” he said, his voice full of acid, “I...apologize for my insensitive comments just now Miss Eisner. I promise to never address you in such a manner again.”

Byleth smiled, then looked down at the floor again when Gerth turned away.

“Ah...thanks,” Edelgard heard her mumble.

She shot Byleth a quick smile in response. Dorothea was squealing behind her again.

Edelgard was beaming internally, but she noticed Hubert give her a disapproving glance. He was right to look at her that way. The two of them planned to fly under the professor’s radar as much as possible, and she had just blown the lid off of that plan entirely.

“Next,” said Gerth, “since we have an extra student, we need a volunteer to sit this battle out.”

Edelgard had never seen Linhardt so enthusiastic about raising his hand in his life.

“Ah, Mr. Hevring, how noble of you,” Gerth continued, then he looked back at the chalkboard, a bit defeated, “aw, you were our only healer.”

Byleth began to raise her hand.

“We should be able to manage,” he said confidently, not bothering to turn around.

Professor Gerth went through the rest of the class, listing everyone’s names and roles to the right of the chalkboard. Once done, he began creating a formation next to it on the left. It was a standard military defensive position; melee weapon users formed a semicircle at the front to block any incoming attackers, mages and bow users followed slightly behind to lob attacks over their heads. Healers, if they had any healers, would have stood in the back away from the action. He placed the formation in a precise location so when the Golden Deer hit them from the west, they would be in the Blue Lions’ easiest path south. It could work, the formation itself was solid enough, but Edelgard couldn’t shake the issues Byleth brought up. Was there a plan for approaching the Blue Lions if they also played defensively?

“Oh my, we’re already out of time!” exclaimed Gerth, noticing the empty hourglass at the back of the room, “remember everyone, we meet at sunrise on Wednesday morning. Don’t be late!”

As everyone started packing up for the day, Edelgard tried engaging Byleth one last time.

“I never got the chance to properly thank you for saving us the other night. You are quite a strong fighter.”

Byleth shook her head.

“I’m no Knight of Seiros, I still have a long way to go before I’m ready to pursue my goals.”

“You mentioned that you already have a firm idea of the path you want to take when you finish school here. Might I ask what it is you’re so dedicated to seeing done?”

Byleth shook her head again.

“It’s not important.”

A slight awkward silence followed. This Byleth character wasn’t a very open person. Not a bad thing in itself, but it could make planning for her reaction to future events a bit more difficult.

Edelgard finished packing up and slung her bag over her shoulder.

“Where are you planning to go now?” she asked.

“Dining hall.”

“Oh, I always found the food here to be excellent,” she said smiling, “if you don’t like the special for the day the chefs will usually make you something else if you have the right ingredients. They’re great that way.”

Byleth nodded. Another silence followed.

“Well, I must get back to my duties,” Edelgard eventually said, “but it was nice to meet you Byleth.”

With that, she got up from her seat and walked towards the door.

“Y’know,” she heard Dorothea whisper to Byleth after she left, “if you were waiting for an opportunity, that was it right there.”

Edelgard couldn’t help but sigh. Between Gerth’s arrogance and now Dorothea’s prodding, this was going to be a very long school year.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Joking aside though there was a time when my Grandfather passed away and I had to ask for an extension on a school project because I was in a terrible mental space. My Professor didn't give me the extension, saying that she didn't understand how people could be depressed when there are so many wonderful things out there in the world to be happy about. She gave me this poem about how beautiful the sunshine is and told me I just needed to take some time to meditate on those things and I'd be back to normal.
> 
> So what I'm trying to say is: congrats Professor, you're now officially a character in one of my stories XD.


	4. The Mock Battle

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Mock Battle begins! Who will be victorious?

The Golden Deer starting block was alight with chatter on the day of the Mock Battle. They were an eclectic group of fighters, but they were confident in their abilities nonetheless. Lysithea ran through the list of spells she prepared for the occasion once more in her head. It was small for now, but she hoped it would grow over the next year. Besides, since this was a friendly battle she was only allowed to use very simple stunning spells, so it’s not like a giant repertoire of deadly magic would do her any good.

“Alright everyone, listen up,” Claude called out, shutting down the chatter, “As you know, we’re in a tight position. We’re starting smack between the other two houses, meaning a battle on two fronts may be difficult to avoid.”

The group nodded and a little chatter picked up again. Dealing with this problem had been the focus of the entire previous class, and they still didn’t leave with a solid solution.

“Ok, simmer down everyone,” Claude yelled again from the front, shutting down the chatter once more, “I’ve been working on this all night and I think I have a plan.”

He pointed South to a cluster of trees.

“I scouted out the battlefield last night and I discovered that the gap between here and that forest down there is very hard to see from both the other houses’ starting positions, especially the Black Eagles’ starting position. They’d have to advance halfway up the field before they managed to see us. My proposition is we use the cover of the forest to sneak around the Black Eagles and attack them from behind. Then they’re in the middle and boom, it becomes Edelgard’s problem.”

“Ok, so we can use that to attack the Black Eagles,” Leonie reasoned out, “but what about the Blue Lions? We never figured out what to do if we attacked one side and the other ended up focusing on defense.”

“Ah yes, that’s why,” he said with a wink, “we gotta bait ‘em into attacking each other.”

“How do we do that?” asked Ignatz.

“I’m glad you asked my totally not planted questioner!” Claude responded pointing back at Ignatz, “the answer: shameless human sacrifice! Lorenz and I will dash between the two other houses shooting arrows and magic, hiding in the northern woods to mask our numbers. Once they’ve both made it to the center and realized that was only a fraction of our team, the rest of you hit the Eagles from behind.”

“Now I know what you’re thinking,” Claude continued, “it doesn’t feel very noble, and under normal circumstances you’d be right! However, these are not normal circumstances and anyone we sacrifice here lives to see another day soooo….I’m not gonna lose any sleep over it.”

A murmur resonated through the crowd.

“But why does it have to be the two of us?” Lorenz complained, “surely the leaders of two important noble houses should be playing a larger role than human sacrifice.”

“Lorenz, putting yourself in harms way for the benefit of others is the most noble thing there is,” Claude responded holding his hands over his heart with faux emotion, “also I’m kinda looking forward to watching you get walloped but that’s beside the point.”

Lorenz scoffed and crossed his arms.

Lysithea churned the plan over in her head. It was very…Claude. Though the idea of sacrificial troops might seem hair-brained to some, schemes that seemed just dumb enough to work were really his specialty.

“The rest of you just perform like we talked about in class the other day,” he continued, “Travel in twos: one weapon user and one magic user, bow user, or healer. Try to stay under cover as much as possible and watch each other’s backs.”

They went around and paired up: Hilda with Marianne, Leonie with Ignatz, and Lysithea with Raphael. Manuella would stand back from a distance and heal whomever appeared to be in the most danger.

“Now that that’s out of the way does anyone have any questions?” Claude clasped his hands together and scanned the group with his eyes. When he didn’t see any objections, he continued.

“Well I’m either great at explaining myself or if I suck so bad nobody knows what to say,” he laughed, “Either way, I know you guys are going to do great. And remember, it’s just a mock battle, so don’t go getting yourselves hurt out there trying to win.”

The sound of trumpet fanfare began to play overhead, signaling the beginning of the battle. The chatter around the group died down as everyone watched the cluster of knights standing on a nearby hilltop. After a moment’s pause, the banner of the Church of Seiros was raised, signaling the start of the battle.

Claude gave a three finger salute to the rest of his class before charging East with Lorenz begrudgingly in tow.

“Alright Lysithea!” Raphael said cheerfully turning to her, “let’s go make this count!”

“Of course,” she responded with a nod.

After a quick scan of their surroundings to check for approaching enemies, the two made a beeline from the northern forest to the southern one. Luckily, they managed to do so without running into any challengers.

“The Black Eagles must be taking a more defensive position,” Lysithea commented to Raphael, “it’ll be their downfall if this works.”

On the other side of the forest, however, was a different story. They quickly ran into Ferdinand, who began to spar with Raphael. Luckily, Raphael got a clean shot in, allowing Lysithea to follow up with a spell that knocked him off his feet.

“Lysithea von Ordelia eliminates Ferdinand von Aegir!” Alois shouted with a hand raised from a nearby sideline. After quietly cursing himself, Ferdinand slinked away from the battlefield with hands raised to signify his defeat.

Raphael cheered Lysithea on as they started to shift their direction back to the east, the banner of the Black Eagles just entering their view.

However, they were interrupted by Caspar, who managed to get a surprise punch on Raphael from behind. The two seemed rather evenly matched, Caspar’s agility just slightly outpacing Raphael’s strength. Lysithea got a shot in that grazed Caspar’s shoulder, but it was difficult to get a hit that would really knock him off his feet without risking hitting Raphael in the back.

Then she heard the distinctive sound of a lightning bolt coming in their direction.

“Raphael duck!” she yelled, but it was too late. The lightning bolt struck him square between the shoulder blades, knocking him forward onto his stomach.

“Dorothea Arnault eliminates Raphael Kirsten!” this time from Seteth.

While busy watching Caspar make a beeline for her, Lysithea heard another lightning bolt being fired off with just enough time to dodge it. She needed to get out of here.

Deciding to take a risk, she put all the energy she could muster into a dark magic burst that hit Caspar square in the middle of the chest. He fell backwards, leaving an opening for her to run back to the shelter of the woods. Once she could no longer hear the sound of lightning magic, she took a moment to rest, wheezing and gasping for air. She really wasn’t built for running around like this. In her fatigue, she didn’t hear the sound of the nearby student charging at her until they were practically on top of her. She turned, hand in spell casting position, and froze.

In front of her stood a student she hadn’t met before, a refined looking woman with long…white…hair. The stared at each other for what felt like minutes, before Lysithea finally spoke.

“Your hair is very pretty,” she said, “it’s an intriguing…choice of color.”

“Yours as well," the woman responded, she looked like she was trying to appear confident but Lysithea noticed she was nervously fiddling with the clasp of her glove. "it’s not everyday I meet someone with the same hair color as me.”

Regaining her confidence, she extended her hand.

“My name is Edelgard von Hresvelg,” she said, “house leader of the Black Ea-”

She was interrupted by an impressively large force striking her on the side of the head.

“Hilda Valentine Goneril eliminates Edelgard von Hresvelg.”

“Come on, Lysithea!” HIlda cried, “did you forget we’re in the middle of a battle?”

Then Seteth raised a hand.

“Hilda Valentine Goneril is disqualified for an illegal hit to the head.”

Hilda pouted at first, but ultimately obeyed and left the field.

Lysithea glanced over at Edelgard, who was slowly getting up, her hand tenderly clasping the welt on the side of her head. She stepped closer to offer a helping hand, but Edelgard shooed her away.

“I’ll be fine,” she said, “focus on the battle.”

That’s right, she was supposed to be finding a way to charge the Black Eagles’ base. In all the confusion she wasn’t even sure who was left or where they were anymore.

“There you are!” came a cry from not far away. She was relieved to see Leonie jogging into view.

“Claude actually did it!” she exclaimed, “The Black Eagles are fighting on two fronts and we have the positional advantage over the Blue Lions if they end up pushing through. Things are looking good!”

Sure enough, listening closer Lysithea could hear the knights bellowing out names of eliminated students left and right as the battle became heated.

“Petra Macneary eliminates Sylvain Jose Gautier.”

“Felix Hugo Fraldarius eliminates Petra Macneary.”

“Annette Fantine Dominic eliminates Dorothea Arnault.”

“Hubert von Vestra eliminates Felix Hugo Fraldarius.”

Then things took an interesting turn.

“Byleth Eisner eliminates Ingrid Brandl Galatea.”

“Byleth Eisner eliminates Annette Fantine Dominic.”

“Byleth Eisner eliminates Manuela Casagranda.”

“Byleth Eisner eliminates Ignatz Victor.”

Lysithea and Leonie looked at each other. Then they heard a twig snap behind them. They turned around to see a student with messy blue hair, uniform drenched in sweat, breathing heavily from exertion.

Leonie went after her first, but the woman grabbed the lance, tore it from her hands, and snapped it over her knee. She knocked Leonie over with a hard shove to the side of her shoulder and began to advance on Lysithea.

Lysithea barely registered the announcement made by a nearby Knight, she was too intimidated by this woman charging towards her.

She probably has terrible magic resistance. Use a spell! Use a spell! Lysithia kept telling herself, but she remained frozen in place. Before she could react, the woman had already thrust her sword into her chest and knocked her off her feet.

“Byleth Eisner eliminates Lysithea von Ordelia.”

Well, so much for that.

* * *

Byleth woke up like she did every morning: starving. She was grateful for a quiet day where she could follow her normal morning routine, which usually consisted of getting dressed, gorging herself on the dining hall’s daily special, and spending the rest of the day doing whatever she felt like. In her previous year at Garreg Mach she learned how to garden. This time, she decided to take a page from Bernadetta’s book and learn how to knit. She was in the process of making mittens for all her friends, since she knew many of her classmates from Southern climates struggled with the cold Garreg Mach winters. It made her happy, she couldn’t remember how many years it had been since she was able to enjoy a simple day like this.

Donning her academy uniform and slinging the bag with her supplies over her shoulder, she opened the door to see Dimitri with his fist raised, about to knock.

“I’m sorry if I disturbed you,” he said, “I just wanted to apologize for the incident in the Mock Battle the other day. I haven’t stopped thinking about it since it happened. I hope I didn’t hurt you too badly.”

Byleth shook her head.

“It’s healed,” she said, moving her arm in circles while holding her shoulder to prove it still functioned normally.

At the end of the Mock Battle a few days ago, Byleth and Dimitri clashed after defeating most of the other students. It was an intense battle, drawing cheers from eliminated students on both sides. As the battle raged on though, Byleth noticed Dimitri’s more feral side starting to take over. When he finally landed a hit, a combination of enthusiasm and not knowing his own strength caused him to hit her shoulder with enough force to break her armor and puncture skin. The incident panicked the flustered Dimitri, who insisted he take Byleth to a healer right away. Seteth assured him there were healers nearby for occasions such as this and that despite the injury, he wouldn’t be disqualified because he technically hit her in the armor like he was supposed to. Dimitri still walked her to the medical tent anyway, disqualifying himself by leaving the field. In the end the injury would most likely leave a scar, but thanks to Manuella’s healing magic that would be all it did.

And that was how the battle ended. After Byleth and Dimitri left the field, a bewildered Bernadetta popped her head out of her hiding spot in a nearby bush, only to be swarmed by the other Black Eagles as they realized she was the only one left standing on the battlefield. That seemed to scar her more than the actual battle did though, and Byleth was sure she would remain locked in her room for the entirety of the weekend.

“I’m relieved to hear you’re ok,” Dimitri said, visibly relaxing a little, “it’s a beautiful day outside, would you like to join me for a walk?”

Byleth nodded. Though she was still hungry, Dimitri was a student she never got much of a chance to socialize with in her previous life as a Garreg Mach professor. She was curious what she could learn about him now, and whether or not she could change his fate for the better.

“Excellent, and I know just the place to go,” he said, stepping away from the door and holding it open so Byleth could step out. They took a right and walked South towards the gardens.

“Do you think anyone will transfer classes?” Dimitri asked. Byleth shrugged.

Now that the students had been given some time with their new professors, there was a brief two week period where they could ask to transfer to another class if they so wished. These transfers were rare, however, since it was often considered an affront to one’s house if you were of noble status. To complicate things further, classes could only hold up to 9 students at a time, 1 more than the original starting amount. The Black Eagles class already gained their extra student when Byleth joined late, meaning if anyone else wanted in, they’d have to hope another Black Eagle transfered out. Still, it wasn’t unheard of for a few students to shuffle houses here and there. Byleth still remembered Leonie practically breaking down her door last time asking her to sign a transfer form to join the Black Eagles class.

“I don’t know how it will go either,” Dimitri admitted, “but I heard Lysithea from the Golden Deer was trying to get into your house. I assume it is because her family has such close ties with the Empire. Especially House Hrym. Perhaps she already knew one of your classmates before coming here?”

A small pit of sympathy formed in Byleth’s gut. She knew why Lysithea wanted to change classes, and it had nothing to do with the allegiances of House Ordelia. During the previous war, Edelgard and Lysithea had been great friends. Byleth hoped something similar would happen this time so they could regain that mutual support.

After passing the first row of dorms, they turned left into the monastery gardens. A cluster of hedge rows adorned with various species of flowers decorated the small, hidden space. Many students didn’t even know it existed until they took a chance to really explore the monastery. Eventually they came upon a gazebo housing three small, wooden tables. Dimitri pulled out a chair for Byleth at one of the tables and took a seat in the chair opposite her.

“I really am sorry about injuring you,” he said, “I’m glad you’re feeling better, but if you need help with anything, please let me know.”

“That’s kind of you,” Byleth said with a smile, “I’m ok though.”

Then she remembered something.

“I made this for you,” she said, reaching into her bag. She pulled out a pair of blue mittens.

“I know your hands get cold.”

“Curious,” he said with a smile, stroking his chin, “I don’t remember mentioning that to anyone here. You’re right though, winters have always been tough for me, especially back home.”

With a start, Byleth remembered that this Dimitri hadn’t actually told her anything about his cold hands.

“I mean,” she started, “I…heard it from your friends…um…Ingrid mentioned it.”

“That makes sense,” he said with a laugh, “Still, that’s incredible that you made those yourself. I know from experience how difficult knitting can be.”

She leaned over the table so she could give Dimitri the mittens, but when she put her hand on the table for support, the scar on her shoulder flared up and she winced in pain. She hoped Dimitri didn’t notice, but she could tell from the anguished look on his face that he had.

“I knew I hurt you,” he murmured, sounding on the verge of tears, “Goddess…what is wrong with me?”

“Nothing,” Byleth was quick to respond.

“Nothing?” he asked looking away, she could tell he was starting to get frustrated, “so now injuring a friend is just nothing?”

Byleth shook her head again.

“It was an accident,” she said, “you can feel guilty about it, but don’t hate yourself for it.”

Dimitri gave her a confused look.

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

Byleth took a deep breath. These were the conversations she struggled with the most. She had a hard enough time communicating basic feelings, deep philosophical concepts like this always seemed unreachable.

“Guilt focuses on action,” she started slowly, “It’s good to dislike bad actions. It’s good to want to improve your actions. Shame focuses on the person. It happens when we hate ourselves because of guilt. You can feel guilt over your mistakes, but you’ve done nothing to deserve shame.”

She paused, then looked him in the eye.

“You are not a bad person.”

Dimitri was silent for a long time. Then he shook his head.

“You might be able to say that about yourself, but there are people in this world who have done inexcusable things. I could never forgive them for that…and I could never forgive myself for slowly becoming one of them.”

He turned away abruptly.

“I’m sorry Byleth, I’m not feeling well,” he said coldly, “if you need me, I’ll be in my dorm.”

With that he walked away, not giving Byleth any chance to respond. He didn’t even take the mittens.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The only route I've actually played at this point is Crimson Flower, so it took a lot of research to get into Claude and Dimitri's heads. I hope I did a good job with it! ^.^


	5. A Slip of the Mask

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Edelgard tries to gather intel on Byleth. She doesn't like what she learns.

Edelgard usually saw food as nothing more than a utility necessary for survival, but after a couple months of eating at Garreg Mach’s exquisite dining hall, she could see why some would have a different relationship with food. She was used to sneaking meals in where she could on carriage rides and while reading lengthy paperwork, or sometimes not eating at all, but in this case she was willing to make an exception. She was glad she did, because socializing at the dining hall was already becoming one of her favorite activities.

Still, she always made sure to keep tabs on her escape routes whenever surrounded by people she marginally knew. In this case she was relieved to see her friends had chosen a table on the northern edge of the dining hall, allowing her to grab the closest seat to the door possible.

“This pheasant is heavenly,” she remarked between bites.

“Yeah totally!” Caspar exclaimed, cheeks stuffed full like a squirrel hoarding nuts.

“Looks like someone else thinks so too,” Linhardt commented.

Edelgard followed his eyes to see Byleth approaching the front of the dining hall with an empty plate...again. She couldn’t help but cringe at the woman’s bizarre eating habits. She woke up bright and early every morning, scoffed down up to a half dozen meals at once like a wild animal that hadn’t been fed in weeks, and then spent the rest of the day fishing, training, or locked away in her room. It couldn’t be healthy.

“I don’t understand how she isn’t as big as a house,” Linhardt continued.

“She is!” Caspar replied, mouth still full of food, “it just doesn’t go to her-”

Hubert stomped on his foot hard, leaving him momentarily yowling in pain.

“You should go say hi!” Dorothea winked, then continued in a sing-song voice, “I think she really liiiikes you!”

“For the last time,” Edelgard rebuked, her face turning red again, “that flower wasn’t meant to be a romantic gesture.”

“Oh PSHAW!” Dorothea returned, waving her hand in front of her, “She might not have known it’s full meaning, but still, who gives a flower to some random girl they’ve just met unless they think she’s pretty?”

“Well, I guess we’ll never...” Edelgard trailed off as she saw Byleth running up to their table. She thrust both hands out in Dorothea’s direction, palms up, a small metal chain dangling between two of her fingers. A few inquisitive looks were shared around the table before Dorothea finally stood up to get a better look at the object in her hands.

“My brooch!” she exclaimed, “I thought it was gone for good! Thank you so much for bringing it back to me, it has a lot of sentimental value.”

With that, Byleth wordlessly turned towards the door and sprinted away in the direction of the classrooms.

“Such an odd girl,” Edelgard couldn’t help but comment.

“Wasn’t that so sweet?” Dorothea cooed, “and those little hats and mittens she’s been giving out are adorable too! Seriously Eddie, you’d better make your move before someone else snatches her up!”

Edelgard sighed. The last thing she wanted to do was fan the flames of Dorothea’s misconceptions, but she did promise herself she’d spend the morning gathering more information on Byleth’s political views.

“It _is_ my duty as house leader to get to know the students in our class,” Edelgard finally admitted, “perhaps I should go talk to her.”

Dorothea giggled.

“Whatever excuses you want to make Edie,” she teased, winking again.

After searching most of the monastery, Edelgard found Byleth practicing with a wooden sword at the training grounds. How she could train after that much food Edelgard could only guess, but after seeing what she could do in Remire and the Mock Battle, Edelgard was curious to see her talents up close. Whether she was assessing an ally for usefulness or an enemy for weaknesses was yet to be determined.

“Good afternoon Byleth,” she started, “I hope I’m not interrupting anything.”

Byleth stopped her training and turned to look at Edelgard. She shook her head no, then continued to stare forward at her like a child waiting for instructions.

“I was wondering if you would like to spar together,” Edelgard offered, “it’s always more beneficial to train with a partner.”

Byleth nodded and ran to the weapons rack to grab Edelgard an axe.

“I appreciate it but I can-” but before she could protest Byleth was already holding the axe out in front of her, waiting for Edelgard to take it.

“Alright, when I get to three, we begin,” Edelgard commanded, grabbing the axe and getting into a battle-ready stance.

“One…”

“Two…”

_“Three!”_

Both students swung at each other, their weapons getting tangled upon colliding. Byleth used the opportunity to knee Edelgard in the stomach, leaving the princess sputtering for air.

“Excuse me!?” Edelgard shot back at her opponent.

“Sorry, was that over the line?” Byleth asked, her head turned to one side, “when I spar with the other mercenaries we use any means necessary to win. It’s more true to an actual battlefield.”

Edelgard grimaced, holding her stomach.

“You know, most people here who would claim that fighting style is dirty,” she responded, “certain professors might even give you detention.”

Byleth shrugged.

“I don’t care.”

Edelgard grinned. This was good information on Byleth. Anyone willing to knee the princess of Fodlan’s largest nation in the stomach and then say to her face she didn’t care about “dirty fighting” must be pretty gutsy.

Having caught her breath, she lifted her axe again.

“Alright, another round.”

“One…”

“Two…”

_“Three!”_

Their weapons clashed again and Edelgard could see Byleth wind back to go for another knee. She intercepted it, wrapping her leg around Byleth’s calf and pulling her leg out from under her. Byleth fell to the floor and Edelgard struck with her axe to finish the job, but Byleth deflected it down near the handle, causing it to rotate out of Edelgard’s grasp and bounce a small ways along the floor of the training grounds. Before Edelgard could react, Byleth grabbed her shoulder and forced her down to the ground, holding her sword against her throat with the other hand.

Byleth got up off of Edelgard and offered her a hand in assistance.

“Always keep your weapon’s center of gravity in mind,” Byleth explained, balancing her sword on her index and middle fingers, “you can make your opponent's weapons go places they don’t want them to by hitting them in the right spot. In the case of axes, most of the mass is away from the handle, making them very top heavy. This makes them hit with more force, but at the tradeoff of making them harder to control. Swords are the opposite, with the center of gravity only a few inches away from the handle. Lances are meant to be held across a large area, making them the easiest to control, but they don’t have much thrusting power as a result.”

Edelgard shook her head in disbelief.

“I’m already learning more from you than I have in my entire time knowing our professor,” she admitted, “perhaps we should do this more often.”

Byleth beamed. It was the largest smile Edelgard had ever seen her make.

“I would like that very much El.”

Edelgard’s mind was punted back into high alert mode. Every red flag re-raised, every mental doorway shut, and every sense went into overdrive.

“What...did you just call me?”

The shock was apparent in Byleth’s face. She knew she messed up.

“I...um…”

Edelgard stood as tall as she could, walking towards Byleth until the woman’s nondominant foot instinctively shuffled backwards. Just one step inside someone’s comfort zone was often the best place to be in situations like this.

“That name is reserved for close friends and family members. I know I have a tendency for informality around here, but there are lines even I won’t cross. Do you understand?”

Byleth silently nodded.

“Now, I want you to tell me where you heard that name.”

A long pause. Too long, she was trying to think of a good excuse.

“I heard Dorothea call you it”

Edelgard took another step forward, Byleth took a full step back this time. The woman was good at keeping her face neutral, Edelgard gave her that, but her body language betrayed her true feelings.

“Dorothea’s nickname for me is Edie. Do you want to try again?”

Byleth looked at the floor, deep in thought. Her body became notably more slumped, often a sign that someone was caving and about to spill their secrets.

“Because you and I have met before,” she finally said, still looking at the ground.

Edelgard racked her brain, trying to remember when she might have met Byleth. If she kept a mental record of every imperial trip she went on and every face she met along the way her brain would pop like an overfilled balloon. However, these imperial visits followed enough of a pattern that she could often piece together when people of certain backgrounds may have met her and what they might have done.

Byleth was an interesting case. Jeralt the Blade Breaker is a name she would have remembered if her father had ever hired him. The only logical occasion would have been one of her visits to the various cities of the Empire. Yet, who would have ever called her El at an event like that? And despite all her travels, Edelgard couldn’t remember ever being to Remire specifically.

“I’m sorry, you’ll have to remind me of when this was,” she finally admitted.

Byleth was still looking at the floor. She let out a long sigh, then looked Edelgard in the eyes.

“I’m from the future El, a future where I made some terrible mistakes, and all of Fodlan suffered for it. I came back to correct those mistakes, and I need your help to do it.”

Sweat appeared on Edelgard’s brow. This woman wasn’t gutsy, she was insane.

“Do you seriously expect me to believe that?” she huffed, trying to keep her tone as level as possible.

“I can prove it, but we might want to move somewhere more private,” Byleth responded.

This attempt to scurry her away to a place where they couldn’t be observed didn’t sit well with Edelgard.

“Whatever you want to say, you can say it right here,” she spat.

Another deep inhale and exhale from Byleth.

“When I first came to Garreg Mach, I was your professor, not your classmate.”

Edelgard almost rolled her eyes. If Byleth wanted to come up with stories, at least she could come up with some more believable ones. Still, she let her continue.

“I used to comfort you after you’d had your nightmares. I had a hard time sleeping too, thinking about everything I had on my plate and the consequences for getting it wrong. When that happened, you and I would often find a place to talk, sometimes until the early morning hours. You told me everything about your past, from the...procedures...performed on you, to losing your brothers and sisters.”

Now it was Edelgard whose weight shifted backwards. It was something she normally didn’t allow herself to do, but her mental state was anything but normal at the moment. Byleth kept going.

“Because of that incident your goal is to eradicate not only Fodlan’s obsession with crests, but its entire system of inherited nobility, so no one else will suffer for not being born with the right crest. You’re laying the groundwork for that revolution right now, using an alter ego you call the Flame Emperor to-”

Edelgard cut her off, one hand grabbing Byleth’s collar, the other unsheathing her dagger just enough to reveal a bit of steel. Byleth’s eyes immediately went down to the dagger. Good.

“You speak of this to nobody. Not your classmates. Not your father. Not even your diary. If I find out you’ve broken any of these rules, I will dispatch assassins to secretly kill you and anyone you’ve confided in. Do I make myself clear?”

Byleth nodded. A voice inside Edelgard’s head was telling her that such a grandiose display could be dangerous if someone were to notice, but she needed to drive her point home if she was going to keep this woman quiet.

“Repeat it back to me,” Edelgard demanded, “what will I do if you tell someone this?”

“You’ll...kill me...and anyone I told,” Byleth said slowly. Her expression didn’t exactly look fearful, but she refused to look Edelgard directly in the eye, so she knew she must be getting her message across.

“Now if you’ll excuse me, I have an important meeting to attend,” she said, letting go of Byleth’s collar and sheathing her dagger.

Edelgard tried to keep herself from walking too briskly as she left the training grounds, but it turned out to be more of a struggle than she thought. Another student was walking towards the courtyard to her left. She tried to match their pace to make herself seem more natural, but ended up watching so intently she bumped into something in front of her.

“Oh, my apologies Edelgard. I didn’t see you coming,” Dimitri said, stepping back.

“Edelgard...is everything ok?” he continued, “you look pale.”

“I’m fine,” she replied, her voice slightly more commanding than she wanted. She glanced at his companions. She had already drawn a concerned look from Ingrid and a raised eyebrow from Felix. Dimitri opened his mouth to speak again, but she cut him off.

“I have a very urgent matter to attend to, so this will have to wait for another time.”

With that, she stormed off towards the library. Every time someone looked her way, she could feel their eyeballs boring into her. Had she misstepped? Could they see the sweat beginning to discolor her uniform? Had Byleth blabbed to anyone before her? Even a casual glance triggered a slew of these thoughts in Edelgard’s mind. Finally, after an agonizing amount of time, she made it to the library. Thankfully, Hubert was alone. He jumped up from his seat as she walked in, he could always tell when something was wrong. Edelgard grabbed the collar of his cloak and pulled him in close.

“Eliminate her... _now_!!”


	6. Hatred's Core

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Thales reads a journal written by his ancestors telling the story of how they were forced underground.

A few excerpts from the journal of Stavros Zannelis:

**10/21/4073**

_One of the dive teams uncovered an intriguing artifact that appears to be from the old era. Though the rotted shell is the only component that remained intact, a cursory scan of the nearby ocean floor revealed enough internal components to piece together its function. It appears to be a weapon that uses certain isotopes of uranium to create a nuclear fission reaction. One need only imagine the amount of energy released by fission on such a scale._

_Sothis, the leader of the Nabateans, demanded that we destroy the artifact. Many Agarthans are heavily resisting. I can understand the concerns on both sides. On one hand, the Nabateans have proven themselves to be a peace-loving people. I do not blame them for wanting to hide such destructive technology to the sands of time. On the other hand, the Agarthans know our dragon-like companions can manipulate energy in ways thought to be impossible before their arrival. They even refer to it as “magic” for how supernatural it feels. I don’t blame our people for wanting a countermeasure, just in case._

_Although the Nabateans have shown immense kindness to our people since their arrival nearly 100 years ago, all things considered I have to admit that I too fear their demonic transformations..._

_It is getting late, perhaps these are thoughts to mull over another day. For now, I will continue to fulfill the wishes of my superiors, whatever that might be._

**3/3/4075**

_It has been almost a week since the destruction of our home at the hands of that vile creature._

_I returned from a fishing trip with my eldest son Ionias to find our home burned to the ground. Reports from the locals say Iossif, a Nabatean I used to consider my friend, rampaged through Zahras in his beastial form, burning houses and shops at random. The survivors and I worked together to take down the beast and end his life, only to be charged with his “unlawful” murder._

_Forced to flee Zahras, Ionias and I now wander the streets of an unfamiliar territory. I have started taking mercenary contracts from some, shall we say, unsavory characters. It is illegal to hire a convicted felon, even for a one-time job, so I’m afraid I will have to get used to such dark clientele. Even still, it does not make enough money to provide food for me and my son without begging on the side._

_I am practicing this magic the Nabateans use. While it comes naturally to them, it takes a tremendous mental adjustment for the Agarthan mind to align itself with such subtle yet convoluted frequencies. I hope it will make me a better mercenary with more renown. I will do anything to see my son happy and healthy again._

**6/13/4075**

_After 3 months of wandering, we have finally found shelter with a woman named Varvara. She is a saint, a woman who dedicates her days to building machines that will help society, and spends her nights providing a home to those displaced by the violence of our era._

_She has told us our story is not unusual. Although she started this project as a simple way to care for the homeless, she found that many residents who took shelter under her roof were displaced by the same thing: a violent, sudden rampage from an elderly Nabatean._

_She says she has done some investigating of her own, stealing relevant documents from government officials and civilians alike. What she has discovered is that Nabatean transformation magic warps the mind after enough use. They can survive many years with their consciousness still intact, but as time goes on they must inevitably decide between relinquishing their power or falling into insanity. Most choose a form and remain in it permanently when they feel their minds beginning to falter, but denial, paranoia, and sometimes pure selfishness drive many to eschew such precautions._

_I once welcomed these creatures with open arms, but now I realize the truth of their power. They are ticking time bombs, and whether they choose to diffuse or explode, the highest price is always paid by the rest of us._

**1/10/4081**

_I have accepted a position as an engineer in King Nemesis’s new order. He started out a mere bandit, but has risen to become our greatest hope. He has killed their leaders, taken their powers, and taken the first major steps to reclaiming this land as ours. There may have been a time when I lamented so much blood soaking our soil. That time has long passed._

_The Nabateans have a new leader, a woman named Seiros. She is, to put it politely, a merciless tyrant. While Sothis turned a blind eye to the plight of those around her, she ultimately hated bloodshed above all else. This Seiros woman, she thrives on it. She is a poignant metaphor for the dark underbelly of this race we have uncovered in recent years._

_I only hope that we can win. The future of Agartha depends on it._

**3/5/4089**

_King Nemesis has fallen in battle, and our people are being forced to retreat underground. Seiros has exiled all adult Agarthans under punishment of death. Only the children may stay. Young, impressionable children who will believe the story that their families were killed by an evil king who turned his blade against them when their families are very much alive underground. Every year she changes history bit by bit. Even the New Year is now a celebration of her regime’s founding._

_I have failed you Agartha. I have failed you Varvara. But worst of all, I have failed you young Ionias. Your only sin was trusting a father who could not deliver you from the depths of this hell._

_I swear I will teach you everything I know, so that one day you may rise against those wicked beasts and reclaim what is rightfully yours. I pray every night that you will one day see sunlight again._

* * *

That was the last entry in the worn out journal. Though the dim underground light made it difficult to see, Thales had managed to read it cover to cover many times over the years. Kronya sat next to him, fighting her way through a bowl of some foul smelling food Solon processed for her. Though Solon could work miracles extracting nourishment from the most basic dirt and clay, his creations were often far from palatable.

“When are we going to get some real food again?” Kronya complained, “you know, surface food. Like vegetables…or meat…or y’know, _not_ processed dirt.”

“I already told you, I don’t know,” Thales answered truthfully, “and that will continue to be my answer until the day we’re freed from this place.”

She groaned in disapproval, though Thales knew better than to start this argument with her again. Still, as tired as he was of her complaints, it made his heart heavy that he couldn’t give his daughter a better answer. What did it say about their life when the foulest smelling substance they had to deal with was their food?

He flipped back through the pages of his ancestor’s journal, instinctively knowing where to turn for what stories. He decided to read an earlier entry, one where his ancestor described the games he used to play with his children in the summer sun. However, a knock on the door interrupted his reading.

“I apologize for the intrusion,” it was Solon’s voice, “but if you have the time, I wish to discuss some things with you before I depart for the monastery.”

“Of course, come in my friend,” Thales called out.

Solon slowly opened the door and closed it behind him.

“As you know, I have been analyzing the material extracted from the Javelins of Light,” Solon began. Kronya scoffed.

“Javelins of Light,” she said in a mocking tone, “They’re nukes. I don’t know why you two can’t just call them nukes.”

“I remember this work,” Thales responded nodding, “were you able to make any discoveries?”

“I am using it to build a new spell,” Solon explained, “A few complications remain to be worked out, but considerable progress has been made since our last discussion. When it is finished, we will be able to banish our enemies to the realm of shadow, a parallel dimension devoid of all but suffering.”

"Or you could just shoot them with a bow like normal people?" Kronya criticized, "but no, keep going on about all the money and time you're spending literally chucking people into alternate dimensions."

“With this, we would be unstoppable,” Thales muttered, “it’s perfect.”

“What shall we call this new form of magic?” Solon inquired.

“It’s literally already called a wormhole,” Kronya sighed.

Thales slammed the desk with his fist.

“ _We’ll call it THE DARKNESS OF ZAHRAS!!_ ”

“ _DAD!!_ ”

Solon grinned.

“Yes, it is perfect,” he said rubbing his hands together mischievously.

Thales turned to his daughter.

“Kronya, how have you progressed on your project?” he asked.

She choked down a little more slop before speaking up.

“I’ve been analyzing that red head’s look, y’know, the one you guys snagged last year,” she explained, “I won’t exactly be the cutest girl on campus, but it’ll get the job done.”

“Yes, I’ve seen her work she’s progressed quite admirably,” Solon interjected, “With her disguise complete, we can begin to plan when and how we want to place her in the monastery.”

Thales put a hand on his chin and thought for a moment.

“Have you managed to capture the little Nabatean girl?” Thales asked Solon.

“Not quite,” Solon shook his head, “Though the Death Knight watches her movements by the light of the moon. She often evades her father’s watchful eye to go on secret nighttime strolls, so it should not be long before we corner her alone.”

“Good,” Thales responded, “Once that happens, place Kronya in the dungeon with her. Make them think she’s been in captivity all this time.”

“What!?” Kronya exclaimed, “I don’t want to go hang out in some jail cell!”

“But it is necessary,” Thales explained, “It will play to their sympathy.”

He got up and paced the floor as he explained the rest.

“Ideally, our workshop won’t be discovered until after we’ve drawn the necessary blood,” he continued, “but they will find us eventually. Though the Death Knight is strong, he cannot stop the full force of the Knights of Seiros. When they do get the small one back, Kronya, you will become an extra pair of eyes and ears inside the monastery walls, one that may intermingle with the other students without raising suspicions.”

“I see,” Solon responded, “And what will we be doing during this time?”

“You continue to monitor the staff from your position at the library,” Thales instructed Solon, “As for me, I have a meeting with the Adrestian Princess. It seems one of her new classmates knows a troubling amount of information about her. I will provide her with some instructions to...eliminate the threat.”

“Very well,” Solon replied with a bow, “I will take my leave to fulfill my role in this script. I wish you luck on your endeavors.”

“Same to you,” Thales responded.

As Solon left him and his daughter to their privacy once more, Thales glanced down at the book in his hand. His trips to the past would have to wait until a later day. For now, there was work to do.

“My ancestors, I _will_ avenge your deaths,” he muttered to the book before setting it aside, “Our people _will_ see sunlight again, no matter the cost.”


	7. Interview with a Tactician

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Claude pesters Byleth for information about her father. Something else happens that Claude didn't bargain for.

Byleth stared blankly at the lake in front of her. Her fishing rod had lost its bait long ago, but she didn’t have the energy to re-bait it. Not only did Edelgard hate her, it had been three days since Flayn’s disappearance. When she heard the news, she immediately started scoping out Jeritza’s room, only to discover with horror that it was empty. Was she too late? Had Those Who Slither in the Dark already taken more…drastic measures? Thinking about it made her heart hurt too much to bear, and when that happened the only things that cheered her up were food and fishing. She had already eaten her fill for the day though, so fishing it was.

She heard footsteps from behind and was surprised to see her father squat down next to her on the pier. He had been helping Bernadetta study that morning and Byleth was expecting him to stay with her for most of the day. Maybe somebody told him his daughter was moping next to the fishing pond again?

“Hey kid, you got something on your mind?” he asked.

She shook her head no. What was she supposed to say? That she came back in time and screwed everything up? That her most precious student didn’t remember her anymore and now thought of her as a dangerous enemy? That there was a good chance Flayn might already be dead? That Fodlan was about to go to war and the responsibility of preventing it from falling into chaos felt like it was crushing her? There was no way to explain any of it.

“C’mon,” Jeralt replied, putting a hand on her shoulder, “I can tell something’s up.”

She racked her brains for anything she could say to make him understand the situation.

“I’m just worried,” was what she finally settled on.

“About Flayn? Yeah, that’s fair,” he said while taking off his boots and tenderly dipping his feet into the water.

“I think she’ll be alright though. The whole monastery’s looking for her. And even if she does end up in a tough situation, she's a tougher kid than she lets on.”

Byleth continued staring down at the lure in the lake. She could tell her father was really trying, but he wouldn’t be able to say much to make her feel better when he knew so little of the picture. There was no way she was going to risk telling him her real feelings after what happened with Edelgard.

Jeralt put his hands behind him for balance and looked up at the sky.

“If there’s one thing I regret,” he said, “it’s making you grow up too fast. A mercenary band isn’t the place for a child, so I had to make sure you stopped acting like one as early as possible. I thought it was necessary to protect you from this place, but…now I can’t help but wonder what would’ve happened if I’d done things differently.”

“I just…” he said with a pause, “I just want you to know that…I’m always here for you. No matter how much I talk about being tough, there’s no shame in asking to talk things out.”

There was an uneasy pause. Then Jeralt sighed.

“Give me a moment,” he said before abruptly turning around and grabbing something behind him. Byleth looked up just in time to see Claude von Reigan being hoisted above her father’s head and abruptly disposed of in the lake in front of them. Students and staff alike turned their attention to the source of the sound, and Byleth could hear the concerned chatter already starting up.

“I told you next time I caught you trying to pickpocket me there’d be consequences, and here we are!” Jeralt bellowed, standing up on the pier.

“Captain Jeralt!” Seteth exclaimed running over to him, “Captain Jeralt, I understand you’re annoyed but you must not throw students when you’re upset with them. Please let us handle things from here.”

“Yeah, and what’re you gonna do, give him detention? Again!?” Jeralt yelled “Like that’s gonna teach him anything! You wanna know what they did to us what I was growing up-”

“That was a long time ago and our society has come a long way since then,” Seteth continued, putting his body between Jeralt and the lake with his arms outstretched, “I insist you accompany me back to your quarters so we can discuss the rest of this matter in private.”

Jeralt groaned.

“Tryin’ to spend a meaningful moment with my daughter just once…” he mumbled under his breath as he walked away.

Byleth offered a hand to Claude to help him back onto the pier.

“Gah, thanks for the help,” he said as she hoisted him out of the lake. He shook his clothes out and squeezed the water out of his braid as best he could.

“Are you ok?” Byleth asked.

“Yeeeah,” Claude responded, now checking his pockets to make sure nothing fell out, “believe it or not that’s not the first time this has happened.”

He looked back up at Byleth.

“But I’d probably feel better if you answered some questions about the old man. I might even stop trying to snatch that journal off of him. Sounds like a win win.”

No. Absolutely not. She was done answering questions.

“The dining hall’s having an ice cream speee-ciaaal,” he said with a smirk, “how ‘bout we talk it over there and I get you all the ice cream your little heart desires, ingredients on me.”

Byleth…did like ice cream…

* * *

10 minutes later Byleth was happily digging into a gigantic bowl of ice cream, making the occasional happy grunt of approval while Claude furiously checked his savings to calculate how much more ice cream he could buy while still being able to pay for room and board that month.

“So you think you’re going to miss having Lihardt in your classes?” Claude started with. Byleth looked up at him in confusion, mouth and nose both covered in ice cream.

“Oh, I thought you would have known since he’s in your house and all,” Claude said with confusion, “but yeah, Linhardt’s switching over to the Blue Lions. Apparently he had a pretty lively conversation with Lysithea about the crest research Hanneman’s been performing and it piqued his interest.”

“Won’t Lord Hevring be upset?” Byleth asked between bites.

“I’m sure he will be,” Claude responded putting his hands behind his head and leaning back, “but y’know, sometimes you just gotta put all that nobility stuff aside and move forward with your own life. Honestly, I’m kinda proud of him.”

Claude hadn’t even touched his own ice cream. He stared back at Byleth, deep in thought. Then his eyes narrowed and he leaned over to take a closer look at her dish.

“…what?” Byleth asked, a bit annoyed.

“Nothing,” he said, leaning back to a normal position in his chair, “it’s just that that ice cream has a weird consistency…”

He waved his hand, dismissing the subject.

“Don’t mind me. Anyway, how long have you and your father been mercenaries?” he asked. Byleth cursed herself. These were the questions she was trying to avoid answering, but in the heat of the moment she accepted his offer of ice cream and had already eaten him out of a considerable amount of money. She had to at least give him something back.

Claude was an interesting character. Very difficult to read. Byleth caught him snooping in places he wasn’t supposed to be several times during her period as a professor, including once in Lady Rhea’s room. He was always so suspicious of the Church, Byleth feared he may sympathize with the Empire after Edelgard declared war. To her surprise and relief, at least at the time, he sided with the Church, claiming he just couldn’t get behind Edelgard’s bloody methods. Now, however, her fears were the opposite. She was on Edelgard’s side, and she worried Claude would not be. Despite his distrust of Rhea, something inside him still prevented him from actually raising swords against her. She thought she might be able to sway him to at least sympathize with Edelgard if she told him what she knew, but she also feared letting him know too much in case he ended up becoming her enemy.

“Hey Byleth,” Claude said, leaning forward again, “we had a deal. I don’t want to pry into anything too personal, but this is for the greater good here.”

“My whole life,” Byleth finally said, “we’ve been mercenaries my whole life.”

“Interesting,” Claude put his hand on his chin, “how old is your Dad anyway?”

Byleth shrugged.

“Maybe 100.”

Claude blinked in surprise.

“But that doesn’t make any sense. That means he had you when he was…and he doesn’t look like he’s that ancient.”

“Alois says he hasn’t even changed in the last 20 years,” she said, not even looking up from her ice cream.

“But how is it possible?” Claude asked.

Byleth shrugged again.

“I don’t really know.”

Byleth could tell Claude was getting frustrated. Clearly this interrogation wasn’t going the way he wanted it to. Perhaps she needed to change the conversation away from her father. After all, what he was really looking for was information on the Church’s secret dealings. That she could give him without spilling her personal information.

“You want to know what’s going on right?” she asked. Claude stared at her confused.

“It doesn’t feel right does it?” she whispered, “all these bizarre explanations for why the world is the way it is. Not a single other land practices this religion and yet we’re so convinced of its truth we kill those who don’t believe in it. You ever wonder…if maybe there’s something deeper going on?”

Claude was listening intently.

“Do you know where my dorm is?” Byleth asked.

Claude nodded.

“If you’re looking at my door, around the corner to the right is a secret passage. One of the bricks pushes in, it’s nondescript so you’ll just have to feel for it. There’s a town under there called Abyss. A guy named Balthus von Albrecht typically guards the gate. Offer to pay off some of his debt, and he’ll show you whatever you want to see.”

Claude laughed with a raised eyebrow.

“You’ve got quite the imagination,” he said with a smile. He looked her in the eye. Byleth didn’t flinch.

“No…you’re being serious about this, aren’t you?” he said slowly. He looked away in thought.

“I’ve seen people disappearing through that secret passage you mentioned,” he admitted, “I’ve been trying to figure out what’s down there for a while, but I was never able to get in. And Balthus von Albrecht…that’s a name I haven’t heard in a long time. Not really sure how your imagination could have made that up.”

A brief pause.

“Well, if this works out, I’d say that ice cream was well earned!” he said cheerfully, “I-”

He stared down at Byleth's bowl again, his face changing to concern once more.

“Hold on, let me take a closer look at that.”

Claude grabbed her ice cream bowl despite Byleth’s protests. He stuck his finger in the slightly melted slush and held it up to his nose. As he was doing that, Byleth felt a sharp pain in her stomach. Perhaps she had eaten too much.

Then her mind reeled as a hot, prickly pain melted down her face and into the rest of her body. Her stomach twisted into a painful knot and it was getting harder and harder to breathe. Sputtering and struggling for air, she noticed small bits of foam falling out of the sides of her mouth as she heaved, desperate for a single clean breath. Claude yelled something, but she barely heard it. Her body was losing its strength, and she soon collapsed on the ground.

Claude ran over to her and propped her head up against his chest.

“Hey, we need a healer over here! Fast!!” he yelled as he rummaged in his pockets. The noise in the dining hall started to pick up as people noticed something was going on. Byleth saw Hilda sprint out the door towards the dorms.

“This’ll help absorb some of the toxins and stop them from spreading,” he said, forcing a bottle of vile tasting liquid down Byleth’s throat, “It tastes like gruel but it’s what you need right now.”

As the bizarre liquid permeated her body the pain stopped escalating a bit, but she still struggled to breathe.

“We need help!!” Claude yelled again. The dining hall was now abuzz with people watching the spectacle. Finally, Hilda returned dragging Marianne in tow, who leaned forward as her hand was pulled at a faster pace than she could run.

“We’re here!” Hilda panted.

“I keep telling you,” Marianne choked, “I don’t know much about poisons. I’m not sure what to do! I’m just going to mess everything up…”

“Manuella isn’t awake yet and the door to the infirmary is locked. Besides, you’re the best healer I know!” Hilda yelled back at her.

“I…I…” Marianne stammered.

“Marianne, she’s dying,” Claude pleaded, still cradling Byleth.

“I…I can try…” she said, raising a shaking hand.

Byleth noticed a faint glow appearing around her. It was warm, and it eased some of the pain that was shooting through her body. Then it abruptly fizzled out and the pain returned full force.

“I can’t do it!” Marianne cried.

“Yes you can!” Hilda practically screamed at her.

“Marianne, look at me,” Claude said, “close your eyes, stop listening, don’t think about what’s going on. Just do what you do in training, ok? It doesn’t have to be anything fancy, a normal healing spell works. Just do it exactly like you do in training.”

Marianne closed her eyes and took some deep breaths. The warm glow picked up again. This time it stayed, and Byleth could feel her body returning back to normal. Her throat cleared and she greedily gulped down air like a diver coming to the surface after being trapped underwater. Once her body finally had its fill, her breathing slowed. A dull ache still permeated her body, but it was no longer unbearable.

“I’m here!! I’m here!!” came a shout from somewhere nearby. Manuella and Professor Gerth entered Byleth’s vision.

“Oh, you poor thing,” she cooed, bending over and scanning Byleth’s body with her faith magic, “did somebody already treat her?”

“I…I tried to perform a restoration spell on her,” Marianne sputtered, “I’m so sorry if I messed it up!!”

“You did fine dear,” Manuella smiled, “There’s still some work to be done, but I can take it from here. Claude, can you help me carry her to the infirmary?”

Claude nodded, and Byleth could feel herself being hoisted up in the air and carried away. She was slightly embarrassed by the size of the crowd watching her being carried like a doll, but she couldn’t walk on her own power and getting to the infirmary was the important thing right now.

She could see the crowd dispersing while Hilda held a sobbing Marianne. Gerth scanned the remains in the ice cream bowl with reason magic and furrowed his brow. He seemed to notice something in the shadows, and looking closer Byleth could see someone slinking into the reception hall, clearly trying to hide their face.

As they passed through the doorway to the outside the fresh air was a welcome change from the crowded dining hall. Feeling exhausted, she let her eyes slowly flutter closed, and drifted off to sleep.


	8. Wilted Rose

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Professor Gerth finds a secret passage under the monastery's reception hall. Nobody is prepared for what they find inside.

Dorothea tried to steel her nerves as she crawled through the tight passageway. The whole monastery had been searching for Flayn for a few weeks now without a single promising lead. That was until today, when Professor Gerth discovered yet another hidden labyrinth near the monastery’s reception hall. Finding the entrance was a simple matter of dispelling a magic trap placed on the wall and removing a few loose bricks. The rest of the structure stayed firmly in tact, revealing a small tunnel that eventually arced downward.

None of them knew the shape of the tunnel when they entered, so most of them crawled in head first, only to realize their mistake as they noticed it becoming harder and harder to stop themselves from sliding into…whatever was down there. Though some of the smaller students were able to turn themselves around in the cramped corridor, Dorothea’s height made it impossible. She was too self conscious to ask whomever might be behind her to back out and let her turn around, so she simply grit her teeth and kept her course.

As they got further down the passage the gradient got steeper, and eventually became completely vertical. Dorothea noticed the change in grade too late and lost her grip on the edge of the precipice. In the dark she could barely make out a ladder on the side of the wall near her head. She tried to grab at it, but the force of her fall and the awkward position made it too difficult for her arms to hold herself up on the rungs. Instead, gravity violently ripped her away as she fell screaming into the abyss.

She felt a pair of arms catch her, and opened her eyes to see Petra holding her close. The bottom of the ladder lead into a hole in the wall that most of the class was already exploring. Down below her was a pit of darkness that most likely spelled death for anyone who fell in. Luckily, Petra was waiting at the alcove’s edge to catch anyone who fell.

“Traps is below,” she said, “people talking too. We must be being hushed.”

Dorothea was placed back on her trembling feet just in time to hear Caspar careening down the drop into Petra’s arms as well.

She took a moment to examine her surroundings. Gerth was holding a small torch while examining the structure of the hidden room with Lysithea and Hubert. Bernadetta was in the corner in a fetal position while Ferdinand stood nearby examining his lance. Edelgard was away on business with the Empire, apparently a gaggle of nobles needed immediate attention and looking for a lost little girl wasn’t allowed to take precedence. Byelth was still recovering her strength, though not by her own choice. Manuella practically had to tie the woman to her bed to prevent her from joining the expedition. Dorothea didn’t know if she considered it strength or folly that Byleth didn’t care she almost died a few weeks ago.

“AW YEAH! SECRET BASE TIME!!” Caspar yelled as Petra placed him back on his feet, his voice echoing off the walls “WHO DO I GET TO BEAT UP!?”

Nearly the entire class shushed him at once.

“What was that!?” they heard come from below, followed by the sound of footsteps.

“Good going Caspar!” whispered Bernadetta, “now they’re going to find us! And do horrible things to us!! And after years of torture we’ll beg for the sweet release of death only to-”

Another shush from the class.

“We don’t know what their motives are,” Ferdinand comforted her, “we are still in the monastery after all, not enemy territory.”

“Even still,” Hubert responded, “whomever built this place clearly didn’t want it being investigated by outsiders. It’s best we proceed with caution.”

They heard a click nearby and saw Gerth opening a large stone door. It blended in with the wall from a distance, but on closer inspection it was possible to see that one of the irregularities in the stone could be used as a handle to pull the door open. They were met with a light blue glow from what Dorothea could only assume was some bizarre type of magic on the other side. Geometric blue lines glowed along the narrow hallway’s walls and ceiling, coating the class in an azure light. They progressed through the strange hallway in a huddled mass, with Hubert and Gerth leading the way while Ferdinand literally dragged Bernadetta behind him in the rear.

Part way through, Hubert put out an arm to block the rest of the class. They stopped just in time to see two metal rods right in front of them light up and release a charge of lightning magic between them.

“The more I learn about this place the more I don’t like it,” Hubert said darkly, “perhaps we should turn back.”

Gerth turned to him angrily.

“You’ve been given this task by none other than the Church of Seiros young man,” he scolded, “one does not simply turn their back on such an important order.”

He pushed past Hubert’s arm, trekking further down the blue hallway.

“…very well,” Hubert responded as he lowered his arm and let the rest of the group through.

On the other side of the hallway was a balcony that overlooked a large room, larger than the cathedral up on the surface. The space was broken up into smaller rooms by a grid of walls, but since none of them had ceilings, it was possible to look into most of them at once from these high up balconies. Clusters of strangers in long robes navigated the tiny cells, performing a number of bizarre experiments. Each cell was lit with a similar pattern of blue and red markings, but the balconies up above remained shrouded in darkness. Lysithea gripped the balcony’s railing with enough force to turn her knuckles white.

“Are you ok Lysithea?” Dorothea whispered to her.

“I’m fine,” she responded, “this just brings back some bad memories.”

“ **Enjoying the view?** ” came a distorted voice from behind them. Dorothea turned around to see a gigantic man wearing pitch black armor and a helmet in the shape of a grinning, horned skull, “ **it is so much better when there are surgeries to watch.** ”

“Who are you? What is this place?” Gerth demanded, thrusting his torch towards the mysterious man.

“ **You may call me…the Death Knight,** ” the man responded, “ **and for your second question, you will have to unravel that mystery yourselves.** ”

He drove his axe into the ground, cracking the floor beneath it and causing the balcony to shift.

“ **Climb back up to challenge me if you dare! I welcome it!** ” he yelled with another thrust of his axe. The balcony crumbled, causing the group to tumble down to the floor below.

* * *

When Dorothea came to, a battle was already raging. She had fallen into one of the small rooms below and she could hear fighting in the various cells nearby. The sound of screams, both of pain and fury, overloaded her senses and made her feel like she might have a panic attack.

“Hey! Up here!”

Dorothea looked up to see Caspar perched atop the wall behind her, extending his hand.

“Take my hand,” he whispered. With a small jump she managed to grab a decorative ridge in the wall and hoist herself high enough to grab his outstretched hand. Caspar lifted her up alongside him with a small grunt. It took a moment for Dorothea to get her balance on the narrow beam, but she eventually managed to steady herself and move forward. Her years as a dancer were really paying off here.

“There’s a door on the wall over there!” Caspar yelled, pointing to the other side of the maze, “the professor also thinks he found Flayn! As well as another student from last year! He’s trying to get them out of here!”

Together the two of them ran across the top of the maze’s walls, stunning various mages who never even saw them coming. Every once in a while they came across another student who they pulled up to safety, and eventually they all made it to the end of the maze. Gerth and Lysithea were already at the opposite wall, tending to the motionless bodies of Flayn and the other mystery student. They were both pale as a sheet, but Dorothea was relieved to see they were each still breathing.

“That is the extent of the healing magic I know,” Lysithea said, “but they will need much more thorough treatment when we get back.”

“You’ve done admirably,” Gerth replied. He examined the stairwell in front of them.

”I could see sunlight coming from this side of the room when we were up on the other balcony,” he said, “it’s most likely a way out.”

“It seems too easy,” Hubert replied.

Dorothea shot a lightning bolt at the ceiling. It exploded at the top, briefly illuminating the Death Knight’s face grinning down at them from the balcony above before everything returned to darkness. Commotion could be heard from the mages behind them, now alerted to their location.

“We should have known he would make things difficult,” Hubert groaned with his hand on his face, “then again, it’s not like we can turn back. We’ll need a well thought out plan to get past him.”

“Here’s the plan!” Caspar yelled, axe at the ready, “We all rush in there and beat the EVER LASTING STUFFING OUT OF HIM!!”

With that he charged up the stairwell, giving defiant battle cry the whole way.

“Lord Bergliez! Wait!” Gerth yelled.

Without thinking, Dorothea ran after him. He had gotten far enough ahead that she could no longer hear his yells, but something in her body urged her forward as if she had a chance of catching up with him. She turned several corners before finally ending up at the balcony the Death Knight had been standing on. Luckily he appeared to be gone, but she couldn’t decide if his disappearance made her relieved or frightened. Around the corner was another blue hallway similar to the one that led them into the room on the other side. Gerth was right, it looked like they were getting close to finding an exit. As she turned the corner to enter it, the Death Knight slowly stepped out, glinting axe in one hand, Caspar’s bloody and limp body dangling in the other. He tossed Caspar’s corpse at Dorothea’s feet.

“ **Pity. That wasn’t even a challenge!** ” he cried, “ **I crave a REAL challenger! It would be a shame to spill all this blood without even satiating my appetite.** ”

He raised his axe to strike Dorothea, but a purple spike of magical energy pierced his side, incapacitating him. Dorothea looked in the direction of the shot to see Lysithea and Hubert entering the main part of the balcony, Lysithea’s hands still glowing purple from the spell and Hubert actively rallying her magic with his own.

The Death Knight gave a grotesque laugh, one that couldn’t have been pretty even before the vocal distortion.

“ **Cowards!** ” he cried, “ **let’s see what happens when you’re met with a REAL weapon!** ”

With that he charged towards Lysithea. She stubbornly began charging another spell, but it was clear she wouldn’t release it in time. Hubert stopped amplifying Lysithea’s magic and instead pushed her out of the way, putting himself in the trajectory of the masked knight’s axe. Everything happened in slow motion. It felt like it took forever for the ebony blade to cut its path through the air, but Dorothea also seemed unable to make her feet carry her fast enough to intercept it. Just in time, another axe flew out of the darkness from the hallway, hitting the handle of the knight’s blade just above the grip and knocking it clean out of his hands. Both weapons sailed over the edge of the balcony and after a brief moment clattered on the ground below.

“ _That’s enough of that,_ ” came another distorted voice. Out of the darkness stepped another figure, their entire body covered in a black cloak with red epaulets that hung down the shoulders. They wore a knight’s helmet with a long red adornment on top that fell all the way to their legs, while their face was covered with a red and white mask.

“ **You’ve ruined my fun,** ” complained the Death Knight.

“ _I shutter to think that this is what you consider fun,_ ” the figure in red continued, “ _I specifically instructed you not to take any lives._ ”

At this point, Gerth and the rest of the class caught up.

“Another one!?” Gerth yelled.

“ _I mean you no harm,_ ” the figure in red assured him, “ _this passage will take you back to the monastery. Do not bother returning to investigate further, you will find nothing here if you do._ ”

With that, the distinctive purple glow of warp magic formed around the two of them.

“I don’t think so!” shouted Gerth. He cast a silence spell…behind him… It hit Hubert, yet somehow interrupted the masked figure’s warp. The spell was processed enough to let the Death Knight escape, but the second figure was only lifted up in the air a ways before crashing back down to the ground in front of them.

“Trying to aid our enemy in escaping, huh!? A bit confusing isn't it?” Gerth spat. Hubert tried to scramble to his feet but was hit with an additional burst of fire magic from his professor in response.

He turned and approached the masked figure, who was still struggling to get up after their fall.

“But then again…maybe it’s not so confusing at all… _Edelgard von Hresvelg!!_ ”

With a swift kick Gerth shattered the figure’s mask, revealing Edelgard’s bloodied face beneath it. Dorothea’s stomach turned.

“Edelgard!?” Ferdinand demanded, “What’s the meaning of this!?”

“I’ll tell you,” Gerth replied, “you see, Lady Edelgard’s father was also very greedy for power, the kind of exaggerated villain you see in operas but don't think could ever exist in real life.”

Edelgard grunted in protest, but another swift kick to the face broke her nose and silenced her once more.

“If there’s one thing our current Emperor hates more than anything it’s someone questioning his authority over them,” he continued, “13 years ago, House Hrym tried merely leaving the Empire and was punished immensely for it. Remind me again what the list included Edelgard? Forcing them back into the Empire against their will? Destroying their entire genetic line? Something like that. It took 7 noble houses, one led by my own father, to bring the power of the Empire back to the people.”

Gerth lifted Edelgard’s broken face with his foot.

“Did those mean nobles interrupt your power fantasy Lady Edelgard?” he asked with mock sympathy, “And now you’re rebelling against the Church too? My, you really can’t have anything cutting into your power can you? I suppose the apple doesn’t fall too far from the tree in that regard.”

He clicked his tongue, letting Edelgard’s face fall again.

“Such are the ways of the Von Hresvelg line. Can you really blame the Goddess for not giving them a single child with a major crest?”

Edelgard unsheathed a hidden dagger and threw it at Gerth, who deflected it away with magic.

“And you!” he cried, pointing at Hubert, who was nursing the scorch mark the previous spell left across his chest, “you’ve been her little minion throughout all this haven’t you? I know you’re the one who poisoned Miss Eisner’s food a few weeks ago. That dish reeked of your magical aura.”

“Unlike the Emperor,” Gerth said turning back to Edelgard, “my father was nice enough to let your families live.”

He raised his hand, preparing what Dorothea recognized as a lethal spell.

“I won’t make the same mistake.”

“Wait!!” Dorothea cried. Gerth flashed her an angry look.

“You…um…I…” she stammered, “I thought…only the Archbishop was allowed to decide on punishments like this…”

Gerth thought for a moment.

“You’re right,” he said, canceling the spell he had been preparing, “such things should be left to the Goddess.”

Then he smiled cheerfully.

“Besides, a public execution by the Archbishop is much more fitting for this one, don’t you think? In fact, the more I think about it, the more I like it! What a wonderful idea Miss Arnault!”

* * *

Dorothea sat on a bench in the gardens, her whole body numb. Not only was she traumatized by the battle itself, she learned the one responsible for hurting Flayn so badly was none other than her closest friend. Now that friend was somewhere in the Church’s dungeons, slated for execution in the morning. Painful wasn’t a strong enough term to describe it.

She was confused. On one hand, Edelgard was clearly involved with the people in that underground cavern, if not the one leading them. On the other hand, Edelgard was also the one who saved them from the Death Knight. Well…saved Hubert at least. Dorothea wondered if Edelgard would have thrown her axe if the Death Knight had been after another student. But then that begged the question of why Hubert would sacrifice himself for Lysithea if he was ultimately on the Death Knight’s side. The whole thing made her head hurt. Maybe she’d check into the infirmary and ask if there was anything Manuella could do. She was one of the only people Dorothea really trusted with conversations like this.

The infirmary…Byleth! Byleth didn’t know! Dorothea bit her lip. She was still convinced Byleth had a crush on Edelgard. Under the stoic exterior, Dorothea recognized a tender heart that would be crushed to hear the girl of her dreams had committed deeds so fowl. The least she could do was make sure Byleth heard it from a friend who could reassure her and hold her close rather than a dispassionate Church announcement or even worse bitter gossip.

Slowly, dreading the conversation that was about to happen, she walked over to Byleth’s dorm and knocked on the door. She answered almost immediately.

“You’re hurt,” Byleth said matter-of-factly, looking down at Dorothea’s scuffed up uniform.

“I’m…I’m ok,” Dorothea stammered weakly, hoping she sounded convincing, “I just…do you have a moment to talk?”

Byleth nodded and opened her door further. The room was kept surprisingly neat, with only a stray book she must have been reading out of its place. Dorothea sat down at the edge of the bed and Byleth sat next to her.

“What’s wrong?” Byleth asked.

“Well…” Dorothea paused.

“As you know, today was the mission to investigate that underground labyrinth. We…um…we found Flayn! But…” she turned to look at Byleth, struggling to hold back tears. Byleth put a hand on Dorothea’s shoulder.

“It didn’t go so well,” Dorothea continued, “Caspar is…*sniff*…Caspar’s dead!”

Dorothea was sobbing at this point.

“He’s actually dead, dead and gone forever!” she wailed, “and…”

She paused.

“And...and among their ranks....was Edelgard! She was dressed up in some red mask that distorted her voice.”

She saw a look of horror spread across Byleth’s face.

“I know, I couldn’t believe it either,” Dorothea sobbed, “I…I just don’t understand it at all…what is she even trying to accomplish!? These people are capturing _children_ and performing awful experiments on them!”

At this point, this was becoming her therapy session rather than Byleth’s. She glanced over at the woman she was supposed to be helping, Byleth merely stared at the ground with a pained expression on her face. She blinked, and Dorothea noticed a tear run down her cheek.

“…El…” was all Byleth could choke out before covering her mouth with her hand and letting more tears flow.

The two of them cried together for longer than Dorothea could keep track of. Their tears didn’t stop until long after the sun had already set. When they finally felt they had cried all they possibly could, she gave Byleth a hug and got up from the bed.

“Bylie…I want you to know you can always come talk to me if you need to,” she said, placing her hand on the door handle.

Byleth nodded.

“You too,” she said.

Dorothea opened the door and started walking out.

“Dorothea,” Byleth called. Dorothea stuck her head back in the door frame.

Byleth opened her mouth to speak several times, but no words came out. She kept closing her mouth to think about her words some more, only to open it again and still not know what to say.

“Thank you,” was all Byleth finally said.

Dorothea pouted.

“Is that all you wanted to say?” she asked, “it’s just the two of us, I won’t tell anyone if you don’t want me to.”

Dorothea didn’t want to pry into Byleth’s personal business, but she also didn’t want her to bottle everything up either. Byleth was usually very open with her words, but stoic with her emotions. It was like her transparency was tinged with a desire to protect those around her from her own fear and sadness. Dorothea wanted her to know she didn't need to be protected from whatever she wanted to say.

"I want to help you," she added.

Byleth was quiet for a time.

“That’s all. Thank you for being my friend,” she said.

Dorothea smiled.

“Thank you for being mine.”


	9. Failed Revival

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> With recent events causing her to fear for the future of Fodlan, Rhea decides it's time to revive the Goddess whether Byleth is ready or not.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry I'm a bit tardy on this one! I haven't been feeling super well as of late and my chapter backlog is starting to run thin.
> 
> Anyway, this chapter has some blood and some abusive behavior from Rhea, so I decided to give a content warning here. If you need to skip this chapter, there's a summary in the notes at the bottom where you can get the cliff notes version.

Rhea leaned against the wall of her private balcony, tapping her fingers rhythmically against the stone. She tried to give herself an intimidating presence when in the public eye, but in private she couldn’t help but let herself be a bit more sloppy. She always loved this place. It offered a perfect view of the entrance hall below, allowing her to observe the people coming and going from Garreg Mach while making it hard for those below her to observe her in kind. It was one of the few places she truly felt relaxed.

Sunset had just fallen on the monastery, and the majority of students were either packing up to return to their dorms or were already there. However, Rhea couldn’t shake the feeling of something else being out there, something mingling amongst the innocent students she needed to keep a closer eye on. The incident with Flayn concerned her. The Church had had enemies since the day it was created, but they were never able to set up base inside the monastery itself before. All the gate security in the world couldn’t guard against something that was already buried deep within.

This wasn’t the first time insurrection threatened to rear its ugly head, it seemed every century had its own threat to her family’s well-being. That was why the religion was necessary. No matter how much the world changed with time, humans never failed to execute the same predictable scripts. As soon as they discovered what her family truly was, they unfailingly called for their execution. Only a very carefully curated narrative would mold their behavior in ways that kept her family safe.

Recently, however, she found herself growing tired of trying to solve these problems in a diplomatic manner. Earlier that year a group of merchants were caught selling books that disagreed with the narrative her family so desperately needed to preserve. In earlier years, she would have simply “re-educated them,” but this time an ember deep within her heart persuaded her differently.

_**This is how it always begins**_ , the ember whispered. _**They must be destroyed before the problem festers. Teach the world what happens when they question the Church of Seiros!**_

She sentenced all five of them to death, and a painful one at that. She regretted the decision later, but by then it was too late to undo what had been done.

Rhea buried her face in her hands, trying to soothe the migraine such thoughts threatened to induce. She was theoretically the most powerful being here, but she felt like she was living in a den of hungry wolves. Bearing the combined weight of protecting her family and keeping the mind warping effects of her powers at bay was wearing her thin.

Her mother would know what to do. The rules of the last millennium were nothing more than Rhea’s guesswork at how to bridge the gap between her mother’s disappearance and her mother’s return without letting Fodlan burn itself to the ground in the process. When Mother returned, Fodlan would be led into a new age of peace under the best ruler they’d ever had. When Mother returned, she could relinquish this agonizing power and finally know rest. Mother’s return was the only happy ending for everyone involved.

Yet what she was contemplating tonight, what the ember in her heart begged her to do, it was akin to another murder. This murder wouldn’t involve knives or poisons, it was a simple body swap, a ritual to place her mother’s consciousness in the body that bore her crest stone. There would be no blood, there would be no corpse, but Rhea knew once the new consciousness took over, the old one would inevitably be squeezed out. Byleth was such a sweet girl, it pained her greatly to snuff out such a kind soul for her own selfish desires.

But then, what was she supposed to do? Put the crest stone in another vessel? Byleth was older and stronger now, but with a heart that had never beat in her life, removing the crest stone would most likely still be fatal. That wasn’t even considering the low rate of survival for such a surgery on a normal person. The poor child barely survived the first one when she was a baby.

An unexpected movement below caught her eye. To her left, Monica was walking down the path to the stables. Rhea thought it was an odd time of night to give the horses a visit.

However, that apparently wasn’t what Monica was there to do. Instead, she took a left and stopped at a locked iron gate. After fiddling with what must have been a key, the girl slowly opened it. Carefully looking around to make sure no one else was watching, she jumped to the other side and closed the gate behind her. Rhea could see her run into Jeritza’s room after that.

Rhea bolted down the steps from her private third floor to the first floor below. She followed Monica’s path into Jeritza’s room, attempting to make as little noise as possible once she got to the gate. She stopped outside the office, assuming she’d be eavesdropping in on a conversation that was most likely not supposed to be happening. Instead, she heard silence.

Carefully she opened the door, dagger at the ready. What she found inside was almost worse than a secret meeting. A bookshelf in the back of the room had been pushed to the left, revealing another secret passageway she didn’t know of before. She heard voices coming from inside the passageway, at least a few of them. Panic quickly set in.

_**Get out of here! Don’t let them find you!**_ Don’t let them kill you! the voice in her heart commanded, and that’s just what she did. She sprinted as fast as she could out of the room and back into the Reception Hall that sat under her special balcony. She put a hand on the wall and gasped to catch her breath, though the hyperventilation came more from fear than from exhaustion.

_**You’re surrounded!**_ the voice inside her called in an almost mocking tone. _**They’re in the walls. They’re watching you. Who knows how long they’ve been watching you. And when they find you, you know what they’re going to do right? You saw what they did to poor Flayn. Death may be a kindness compared to what they do to you.**_

She clutched her head, trying not to let the thoughts drive her to insanity. Then the voice calmed itself just a bit.

_So, what will you do?_ it asked.

Slowly, she straightened her posture and recollected herself. Her mind was made up. There was only one thing to do.

* * *

Rhea snuck up on Byleth’s dorm, careful not to let any students or faculty notice her wandering about at night. She knocked thrice on the door, hoping it’d be enough to wake the sleeping woman. After a few seconds of silence, she knocked again, a bit harder this time. Still nothing.

Slowly, she tested the knob, the door opened with a barely audible creak. A beam of moonlight trickled into the room and Rhea nearly jumped out of her skin when she saw what was in it. Byleth was lying in bed staring at the ceiling, her eyes wide open, her body motionless. Rhea couldn’t tell if she was asleep, petrified, or dead. She snuck up to the bed and slowly removed the blanket. Byleth’s chest calmly rose and fell, she was sleeping with her eyes open.

As Rhea watched the body in front of her, she couldn’t help but marvel at how gorgeous it really was. Such a fitting vessel for her mother to inhabit. It was delicate, motherly, and more beautiful than any of the vessels that came before it. Rhea stroked its messy blue hair, imagining the color transforming into a refined shade of green. The soul who inhabited this body didn’t seem to appreciate what she was given, defiling it with scars and bruises. Rhea would remedy that tonight.

As her hand landed on the vessel’s head to stroke its hair again, it stirred and looked in her direction.

“Lady…Rhe…” it mumbled before a look of horror spread across its face, “Lady Rh-!”

“Hush child,” Rhea put a finger on its lips, warmly smiling as she did so, “I have a very special surprise for you.”

She pulled the vessel’s arm, dragging it out of bed.

“I’ll give you a moment to get dressed,” she instructed, “please wear something nice.”

Rhea stepped outside and waited for her vessel to change out of her nightgown. She had checked the room for escape routes when she first entered. Five windows lined the back wall, but they looked out over a drop far too large for anyone to survive. There were no other doors to speak of, making the door she stood in front of the only way to enter or leave the room. After some time, she heard the doorknob turn and braced herself. The door flew open and the vessel rocketed out as fast as it could. Rhea was ready for it and grabbed the vessel’s arm. It was halted in its tracks, struggling to break free from her grasp. Rhea smirked, humans always followed such predictable scripts.

She yanked its arm, pulling her vessel down the stairs and towards the cathedral.

_This is your only hope_ the voice reminded her. This time she couldn’t agree more.

As they passed the classrooms, Rhea thought she saw something purple out of place in the corner of her eye. She glanced over in its direction but saw nothing. After a moment’s pause she began moving forward again, tightening her grip on her vessel just in case. Eventually, she made it to the cathedral bridge. With a wave of her hand she lifted the gate that blocked the entrance and opened the doors behind it.

Rhea always felt the monastery’s cathedral looked better in the moonlight. The large arched windows on the walls and ceiling were purposefully designed to let in as much natural light as possible, basking the room in a soft blue-ish green glow.

As she passed the large double doors, the vessel managed to wrench its hand free and tried to run back across the bridge. Rhea grabbed the back of its collar and pulled it back inside. She glanced down at the wrist she was originally holding and noticed a nasty bruise spreading. Perhaps this was a better method anyway, she didn’t want to damage her mother’s body after all.

At the front of the cathedral stood an ornate altar, housed between two pillars. To the altar’s right were the statues of the four saints. They stood as stark reminders of why she needed to do what she was doing. She pulled a secret switch on each to activate the elevator down to the Holy Tomb. With a loud ‘clunk,’ the floor below them began to descend and the vessel beside her doubled its efforts to escape. Clearly the consciousness that temporarily inhabited it was desperate to resist, as humans typically did when defending something that wasn’t theirs to begin with.

The Holy Tomb was one of the largest and most ornate rooms in the monastery, though few ever saw it. Two rows of stone pillars supported the structure, each with a chandelier adorned with glowing crystals that lit the room and gave it a distinct green tint. A series of graves stood in front of the pillars, with one additional grave standing on a raised platform in the middle of the room. That one was her mother’s original grave. It was so important that guests were not even allowed to step foot on the platform it rested on when given permission to visit. Though her mother’s remains had since been moved to the Mausoleum for security reasons, Rhea still saw this particular grave as her mother’s true resting place.

Just beyond the grave, a long series of steps led up to her mother’s old throne. Rhea had it moved here when the tomb was built as an act of symbolism. Tonight, her mother would sit on the throne once more, this time in physical form.

She thrust the vessel onto the throne and got to work. After binding it in its place, she began to scan the body with magic so she could connect to the crest stone. However when she began the scan, the familiar feeling of her mother’s presence did not greet her in return. That was odd, she had never not been able to feel the crest stone’s presence. It may have been away for 20 years or so, but nothing should have changed in that time to prevent her from feeling it now.

Was she doing the spell wrong? She tried it again, making sure to go through every step with meticulous precision. Still nothing. Was she not recognizing the feel of the crest stone correctly? No, there was no way she’d forget her mother’s aura. She scanned again, trying to go as deep as possible. Still nothing. Was there too much…interference? She tilted the vessels’ head back and unsheathed her dagger, cutting a gash under its left clavicle. With no clothing or skin to block her path, the dripping gash gave her the most direct route for feeling for the crest stone. She scanned again. Still nothing. Panic set in once more. Again and again she tried, and again and again she failed.

She thrust her head into the vessel’s chest, listening for anything that could give her a clue. What she heard was the quiet but steady sound of a heartbeat, something that definitely shouldn’t be possible. Even if the vessel’s heart was capable of beating on its own now, the crest stone should have taken over instead once placed in the chest cavity. There was only one explanation for how that heart could be beating.

“ _ **Where is she?**_ ” Rhea hissed, “ _ **What did you do with my mother?**_ ”

The vessel simply stared back, unable to answer. It just opened its mouth to speak and then closed it over and over. Rhea grabbed the edges of its cape and lifted it so their faces were inches apart.

“ _ **WHERE…IS…SHE!?!?**_ ” she articulated every word as strongly as she could. Tears were streaming down the vessel’s face now as its lip quivered. Exhausted from the effort of using so much magic, Rhea decided to change tactics. Taking her dagger out once more she held it up to the vessel’s throat, pushing just a little too hard and drawing out a couple more drops of blood.

“ _ **You’re going to tell me where my mother is or I’m going to force the words out of your mouth,**_ ” she whispered in the vessel’s ear.

“What the HELL is going on here!?” came a voice from behind her. She whipped around to see Captain Jeralt at the bottom of the stairs with his arms crossed. The young von Varley girl timidly peeked out from behind his waist, then jumped back behind him when met with Rhea’s gaze.

Rhea shook her head, putting on a melancholy face. Humans were typically bad at utilitarian decisions such as this one, rarely able to look outside themselves to see the bigger picture. They were more than eager to take one life to save many, but as soon as the “one” became someone important to them, they acted like it was a completely different situation. Rhea would need a good narrative if she was going to lead Captain Jeralt down the path that was best for Fodlan.

“Ah, Captain Jeralt,” she said, biting her lip in mock concern, “I wanted to shield you from this information, but it seems I have no choice now.”

She sighed.

“It seems your daughter has been up to some mischief while we weren’t looking,” she said, “She’s obfuscated a very important Church artifact, one that I need back right away for the safety of everyone here.”

“Hmmm…well, there’s no need to get knives involved. Just let me talk to her ok?” Jeralt responded while rubbing his chin. He walked up the stairs to the throne, Bernadetta ran to hide behind a column.

Rhea felt like she could give the biggest sigh of relief in her life. It seemed Jeralt bought the story.

“Do you know what she’s talking about?” Jeralt asked Byleth. Byleth nodded.

“Crest stone…” she mumbled.

“Ah, I see now,” Jeralt responded with a chuckle, “yeah, those things are pretty dangerous if you don’t know what you’re doing, especially for people like us without crests. Where’d it end up?”

Byleth looked at the floor.

“Gone…” she said, barely above a whisper, “…it burned up.”

“ _ **That’s not possible,**_ ” Rhea spat, “ _ **tell the truth!**_ ”

If her mother’s crest stone was truly gone, that would mean…Rhea felt ill thinking about the consequences. The vessel’s lower lip began to treble again.

“It’s true!” it shouted, “p-please…believe me…”

“Do you see what I’m talking about Captain?” Rhea asked Jeralt, “she avoids the question again and again.”

“Alright well, I think I have a pretty solid idea of what’s going on here,” Jeralt said putting his hands on his hips, “and I think I have a solution.”

Jeralt produced something Rhea couldn’t see and turned towards her. It was a dagger…a dagger which was now headed straight towards her head…

Rhea dodged it just in time for it to go careening by her.

“ _ **How DARE you!?**_ ” she cried, “ _ **HOW DARE YOU!?**_ ”

Her blood was boiling. Every time, EVERY TIME, she thought she trusted someone, they betrayed and betrayed and betrayed and betrayed again. She wasn’t going to have it this time. She was going to make sure these two, the ones who may have very well ruined her life if what they said was true, walked forever in the eternal flames.

Jeralt was still defiant.

“Listen,” he menacingly, “I don’t care who you are, nobody puts a dagger to my daughter’s throat while I’m alive.”

Rhea charged at him, but felt her hair being tugged from behind. It was enough to pull her down the stairs behind her, losing her sense of direction as she toppled to the bottom. As she got up, she saw the purple haired girl next to her, equally dazed from the same fall. Rhea grabbed at the girl, who gave off a petrified shriek as she slipped out of her grasp.

“We have to get Edelgard,” she heard the vessel tell Jeralt. Rhea’s heart sank further, so they were working together? How deep did this conspiracy go?

“Are you insane!?” Jeralt shouted, “we have to get out of here!”

The two of them were sprinting down the length of the tomb towards the lift back to the cathedral. The purple haired girl trailed not far behind and was quickly catching up to them. Rhea knew there was no way she could catch up to them before the lift left without her, but luckily there were other, more efficient ways out of the Holy Tomb when one was in a rush. She sprinted back up the stairs to the throne and opened the entrance to another secret tunnel. This one would lead back to the reception hall, and if she was quick about it she could definitely beat them there.

When she finally made it to the end of the tunnel, she emerged in the reception hall to see it packed with soldiers, staff, and panicked students running in all different directions.

“LADY RHEA!” came a shout from the crowd. Seteth came running up to her, panting with effort. He had clearly been all over the monastery looking to find her.

“Lady Rhea, thank the Goddess I finally found you. Imperial troops have been spotted passing through the villages at the base of the mountain,” he said panting, “factoring in the time it must have taken for the messenger to get here, I can’t imagine they’re very far away.”

“They’re looking to take their princess back,” Rhea said solemnly.

“No,” Seteth shook his head, “with what I gather about their numbers, they may be looking to seize Garreg Mach.”

* * *

Jeralt barely registered the commotion around him as he made a beeline for the front gate. All Rhea had to do was give the word and hundreds if not thousands of sleeping soldiers would be rallied to hunt them down. That was the hard part with living in a fort: the military was already there.

He could already hear the sound of metal boots marching on stone in the distance, they had to get out of here quickly. With a single glance behind him to make sure Byleth and Bernadetta were still there, he picked up the pace and continued his sprint towards the front gate. It was locked at night, but as the Captain he had a set of keys.

“Greetings captain!” the gatekeeper chimed with his usual chipper salute.

“No time kid, I’m heading out for a bit. Lock the door behind me will ya?” Jeralt ran up to the castle entrance and started unlocking the mechanism that raised and lowered the gate.

“Um…I don’t know if I would open that door sir…” the gatekeeper muttered. Ignoring him, Jeralt flung the gate open as well as the wooden doors behind it. He was greeted by the angry orange glow of torchlight from an army of soldiers gathered on the other side.

“An opening!” one of the soldiers shouted, pointing towards the open door Jeralt now stood inside. His brain took a moment to process what was happening before he gathered his bearings and slammed the door shut once more. He could hear the sound of the intruders banging their weapons on it from the other side.

“Alright, where would we be able to hide?” he muttered to himself.

“Hey kid…” he asked, turning to Byelth, “you wouldn’t happen to have seen Shamir around would you?”

Byleth thought for a second, then her face lit up.

“Oh yeah, I forgot she was alive! I must have undone her death with my time travel…”

An axe managed to cut through the door behind Jeralt, it wouldn’t be long before they managed to break through. Bernadetta clutched his leg with a shriek, the beginning of a panic attack starting to set in.

“We might be able to sneak out through Abyss,” Byleth continued, “Oh yeah, that’s the secret city under the monastery by the way. Nobody’s supposed to know about it though so don’t tell anyone. I know a lot of people there so they should be willing to let me through.”

Then she seemed to realize something.

“Actually I knew them before the time travel so I may have erased that too. Shouldn’t be too hard to win them over again though. Anyway, follow me.”

With that, she ran off with a flick of her cape, charging back through the rows of closed down merchant carts.

“What are you even talking about!?” Jeralt yelled after her, but she kept on running ahead. He did his best to catch up, Bernadetta still clamped onto his leg.

They took a left just before the entrance hall, just narrowly avoiding a battalion of knights charging out of it. As if on cue, the forces at the gate broke through the door and stormed into the marketplace. The two sides clashed behind them as they charged past the fishing pond, past the dining hall, and towards the dorms. Byleth stopped at a brick wall next to her own dorm and started feeling around for something.

“This is a dead end kid,” Jeralt said, “I know pretty much every secret passage here and I never-”

With a click the wall opened and revealed a dark tunnel. Byleth turned back to address her companions.

“I don’t know who we’ll run into down here,” she started, “but whoever it is, let me do the talking. I-”

She was interrupted by a blast of dark magic that hit her in the back and knocked her forward.

“Well, you didn’t take long to hunt down,” Hubert chuckled as he walked out of the darkness, “you really should be more careful about who you tell about your secret passageways.”

Jeralt charged at him. Hubert shook his head.

“I’ll let the soldiers deal with you,” he said, “I have what I came here for,”

With that, he grabbed Byleth by the back of the collar and warped away.

“Dammit!!” Jeralt shouted in anger. Soldiers were filtering through the rest of the buildings now. With a sinking heart Jeralt began to realize that whoever was at the gate was winning the battle against the Knights.

“You there, captain of the Knights of Seiros!” a voice came from behind him, “surrender or die!”

Jeralt turned around to see a young woman surrounded by about a half dozen soldiers. If he had his weapons, he could take them, but unarmed it would be difficult.

The soldiers charged, Jeralt managed to intercept one holding a lance and wrestle the weapon out of her hands. He used the lance to impale a nearby bow user and gave that weapon to Berandetta.

“We’re going to have to fight our way out of here,” he said to her, “I’ll take the lead, cover me from behind!”

“I-I’ll try!” Bernadetta accepted the bow and ammo with shaking hands.

“Alright kid,” Jeralt muttered, “we’re coming.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Chapter Summary
> 
> Rhea contemplates how to move forward given the recent incidents with Flayn and Edelgard. After seeing some suspicious activity from Monica, she panics and decides that she has to take Byleth to the Holy Tomb to revive the Goddess, even if it means taking Byleth’s life to do so. Byleth is dragged to the Holy Tomb, but when Rhea scans her and finds no crest stone attached to her heart, she starts to attack Byleth.
> 
> Bernadetta has been wandering around the monastery at night and sees what’s happened. She runs to get Jeralt, who demands to know what’s going on. She tries to spin Jeralt a story about how Byleth has stolen a very important crest stone and needs to be punished for it, but he doesn’t buy it. He frees Byleth and they escape. Rhea tries to pursue the group, but is intercepted by Seteth who informs her that the Imperial Army is marching upon Garreg Mach, perhaps with the intention of seizing it.
> 
> Jeralt, Byleth, and Bernadetta try to escape through the front entrance, but are intercepted by the Empire army. They try to escape through Abyss, but are intercepted by a newly released Hubert. Hubert manages to get away with Byleth in tow, leaving Jeralt and Bernadetta to fend for themselves amongst the onslaught of soldiers.


	10. The War-Torn Heart

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Hubert and Edelgard use a spell to read Byleth's mind

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter turned out to be SUPER long, so I broke it up into two to make it easier to read. I'll post the second half right after this and then it's back to the regular schedule. ^.^

Edelgard observed the activity around the monastery from the third floor balcony of the reception hall. She had always been curious about what was on the private third floor, and now she had a better understanding of why it was kept secret. This balcony was the perfect spot to watch a large swatch of Garreg Mach without being seen in kind. She shuttered to think how many times Rhea may have been secretly watching her from up here without her knowledge.

Below, soldiers and staff of various kinds carried baskets and boxes being unloaded from the convoys at the front gate. They would be vulnerable until they managed to transfer enough Empire personnel and goods to re-fortify the monastery, and she would have to monitor the process closely if they were going to finish before the Church regrouped for a counter-attack. However, if they could take a defensive position at the fortified mountain-top monastery, there would be a huge strategic benefit. Not to mention that despite Professor Gerth’s best efforts to ruin everything, her brief time with the Black Eagles class still managed to be sentimental to her. She hated seeing so many of the students forced out of their dorms and told to return home. She hoped she could provide at least some of the same experience for those who decided to stay and support her, though she knew the magic would never quite be there again.

In the end, most students chose the sides she expected them to. Lysithea stood with the Empire in a heartbeat, Ferdinand stood with his father in opposition of her coup of Aegir territory, and Linhardt opted to go home to Hevring territory presumably to catch up on his sleep. Others, however, surprised the empress. She expected Bernadetta to flee the war altogether, but Bernie chose to stand firmly by Edelgard's side instead. Dorothea had a number of questions about what was going on, but after enough discussion, she also decided to stay at Garreg Mach instead of going back to Middlefrank with Manuela. It warmed Edelgard's heart to think that so much of the original Black Eagles crew was still around, sleeping in the same dorms and eating at the same tables.

The one that worried her the most though was the utter disappearance of Claude von Reigan. From her understanding nobody had seen him for at least a month, and Edelgard wasn’t sure whether to fear for his safety or fear that he had some sort of diabolical scheme he was executing from the shadows.

“Lady Edelgard, we’ve prepared the interrogation room,” she heard Hubert’s voice behind her and her mind immediately wandered to other things. Now that Byleth was in their custody, Edelgard finally had an opportunity to figure out where she learned all these secrets about her. She had instructed Hubert to teach her the mind reading spell he uses for such cases so she could peer into the woman’s past.

“I’ll be there in a bit,” she said without turning around, she wanted to scan the visible area of the monastery one more time to make sure all operations were in working order.

“Are you sure you don’t want me to do it?” Hubert asked, “It’s a spell I’ve performed countless ti-”

“Hubert I already told you, I’ll be the one to perform the spell this time,” Edelgard scolded. In reality, Hubert would be far better suited for such a task. She had just started learning Reason magic from him at the beginning of the school year, and now she was trying to perform an incredibly complex spell with heavy consequences for being performed incorrectly. However, with how much Byleth knew, she didn’t want to risk Hubert being exposed to something that might be damaging. She tried to keep as few secrets from him as possible, but there were still some elements of her procedures she didn’t feel comfortable letting other people see. Not even her closest ally. Besides, she wanted to protect Hubert emotionally as well, it wouldn’t do to have him scarred by learning just how bad her conditions were.

“There’s a reason we reserve this spell for only the most extreme cases,” Hubert lectured, “If performed incorrectly, you might end up not only seeing her past, you could end up  feeling it too. It’s also incredibly difficult to push the spell to the specific memories you want, and even more difficult to leave a memory once it’s been conjured. There have been cases where even highly experienced mages come back traumatized, confused, and in extreme cases convinced they're someone they're not. I still can’t shake the feeling that something terrible happened in this woman’s past. If you were to get trapped in a particularly bad moment in her life...”

Hubert trailed off.

“I appreciate the concern Hubert, but not much rattles me anymore,” Edelgard assured him, then a bit more quietly, “I doubt there will be anything worse than what I have already been through.”

Hubert put a hand on her shoulder.

“I’ll be there to interrupt if things do get out of hand, do not hesitate to call out if something happens,” he said.

“Thank you Hubert,” she said, turning to give him a smile, “I’m going to get prepared myself, I’ll let you know when I’m ready.”

* * *

Edelgard checked the hourglass on the wall outside the interrogation room, thinking she might let Byleth wait just a little longer. Giving off an intimidating aura was necessary for such interrogations, and a rattled prisoner’s imagination often aided that effort when it was left to stew. After a minute, she double checked her uniform and decided it was time to go in. She threw the door open just a little too hard, making sure it hit the wall with a slam that startled the sleeping prisoner.

Byleth sat in a chair in the middle of the room, her hands tied behind her back. The only light came from a few candles placed in a ring around her, none of which were large enough to illuminate the room’s walls. The result was a small circle of light that Byleth sat in the middle of surrounded by darkness which appeared to stretch into perpetuity. She knew Hubert was perched in one of those dark corners, but it was impossible to tell where.

Edelgard approached the chair and stood over it. Byleth looked up at her, a slight tinge of fear present in her large blue eyes.

“Is there anything you’d like to say before we get started?” Edelgard asked, “I will remind you that you are suspected of spying on private Imperial affairs. If a guilty verdict is reached, it will result in your execution.”

Byleth shook her head. Wordlessly, Edelgard raised her hand and stared into the woman’s eyes as intensely as she could. She tried to connect to the magical energy around her like Hubert taught her, and eventually she found Byleth’s aura. As she focused in on it, staring into Byleth’s eyes, the rest of the world became more and more blurry. Eventually, even the vision of Byleth before her began to fade, giving way to new scenery.

* * *

Edelgard found herself sitting on a rock at the edge of a lake. She was holding a fishing rod, though she noticed the line had no hook or bait attached. Next to her sat Jeralt, very large compared to how she remembered him, holding his own baited fishing rod. Edelgard guessed she was seeing the scene through a very young Byleth’s eyes, though she was unable to turn her head to look at her surroundings. She could only watch everything unfold in front of her like an incredibly realistic opera. Edelgard wasn’t hoping to go back  this  far, but no matter how she tried to focus her mind, the memory stayed put. Eventually, she stopped trying and accepted that the only thing she could do now was go along for the ride, wherever that ended up taking her.

Byleth reached behind her to grab a sandwich and Edelgard cloud feel the paper wrapping it was kept in. When she bit into it, Edelgard could taste the fish and cabbage. She knew Byleth liked it, and that this particular sandwich was a rare treat she occasionally got from her father. Edelgard’s mind began to race, this is what Hubert was trying to warn her about. If anything traumatizing happened in these memories, Edelgard would experience every sensation first hand.

“Ah, these are always my favorite moments,” Jeralt said breaking the silence, “just the two of us and a couple of fishing rods.”

He chugged from a bottle that smelled like it had some type of beer in it, exhaling loudly after lowering it from his lips.

“So, what’s new with you kid?” he asked. Byleth shrugged. Jeralt gave her a moment to respond further, then continued.

“Y’know, your birthday’s coming up. You wanna do anything special?” he asked. Byleth shrugged again.

“Sure,” was all she said. More silence followed.

“Well, just let me know when you know what you want,” Jeralt said with a grin, raising his bottle for another drink, “the more time I have to plan ahead the easier it’ll be.”

They sat there a bit more, looking at the calm waves washing over the lake.

“Did I ever have a mother?” Byleth asked suddenly. Jeralt looked like he almost fell off his side of the rock.

“Hmm, I guess I knew you’d be asking these questions someday,” he said, running a hand through his hair, “yes, you did have a mother, a mother who loved you very much. But…she isn’t here anymore…”

“Where did she go?” Byleth asked. Jeralt thought about his answer for a long time.

“She’s…well…” he started, “You know how sometimes people in the mercenary group get hurt…and…”

“So she’s dead,” Byleth said flatly. Jeralt lowered his head.

“Yes. She’s dead,” he said quietly. Edelgard felt a flicker of sadness in Byleth’s heart. She always knew the answer deep down, but she had still hoped her father might prove her wrong someday.

“Did somebody kill her, like what happens to the mercenaries?” Byleth asked. Jeralt paused again for a very long time.

“I don’t know…” he finally admitted. Another awkward pause settled between them.

“Can I get a new mother for my birthday?” Byleth asked. Jeralt gave a sad chuckle.

“Probably not this year,” he said, “but who knows, maybe someday it’ll happen.”

The scene blurred around her and Edelgard felt herself being flashed forward a handful of years. Now she stood examining a sizable sword, looking it over for any blemishes that needed to be ironed out. Byleth didn’t notice anything out of place, so she put it in its sheath for now. Jeralt approached her and she looked up at him expectantly.

“I have to stay here and take care of a couple idiots who didn’t think it was necessary to tie up our food in a bear bag. Gotta make sure they didn’t do anything else halfway that might put people in danger,” he said, “You ok patrolling with Talia this time?”

Byleth nodded, this was actually great news. Talia had risen up to become Jeralt’s second in command at the company, he very rarely made a decision without her advice anymore. Byleth had seen the two of them when they thought they were alone, they definitely thought of each other as more than just business partners. Byleth already thought of the woman as a mother figure. After all, Talia was the one who finally convinced her father that he needed to go get her some more feminine fitting armor, and she was by far the better resource of the two when Byleth started getting her monthly cycle.

They were just supposed to be scouting the forest for a missing child from a nearby village. Weapons and armor were always brought along just in case, but no one was expecting to be ambushed by a gang of bandits that size.

“Stay behind me Byleth!” Talia commanded as the two of them backed into a corner. She managed to fight off a few of her attackers, but when a stray arrow embedded itself in her neck, she fell and didn’t get up again. That day marked the first time Byleth killed out of anger.

“You did everything you could,” Jeralt consoled her a few days later, “In fact, you may have saved many of our soldiers’ lives.”

Byleth hadn’t eaten and had barely slept since the day Talia died, though she also rarely left her bed. Edelgard recognized the feeling in her heart, it was the same one that plagued her every time another sibling died in the prison under the palace. The familiarity made her want to vomit, but like Hubert warned, she couldn’t find a way to escape.

Jeralt took a seat next to Byleth on the bed, a heaping plate of her favorite grilled fish in hand. Though she still didn’t have much of an appetite, the smell was enough to intoxicate her and she began digging in. As if the act of eating reminded her body how hungry she was, next thing she knew she was polishing off the entire plate. Instantly she felt better, and she even considered the idea of getting out of bed and walking around.

“Some of the guys and I are playing cards outside, you want to join?” Jeralt asked. After some thought, Byleth nodded her head and stepped out of bed. However, as she opened the flap to her tent, she could see the idle conversation at the table instantly die down. They ended up walking into a very uncomfortable silence.

“Well, this became a rather glum party!” Jeralt chuckled, “Byleth’s going to join us, so somebody deal her in next round.”

The other mercenaries exchanged glances.

“Actually, we were just finishing up,” one of them said, putting his cards down on the table in front of him. The others murmured something in agreement and began packing up as well.

“Hey, hey, wait a minute!” Jeralt protested, grabbing the arm of the nearest mercenary, “You guys were just out here having a ball and suddenly as soon as my daughter shows up you all have better things to do?”

The mercenary shifted her weight uncomfortably.

“Captain, can we talk in private?” she asked.

Jeralt rolled his eyes, but ultimately obliged. Byleth gave them a minute in one of the nearby tents before sneaking over to listen in.

“If you had seen what I saw you’d know what I’m talking about,” the mercenary complained, “that girl killed nearly a dozen men twice her age. You can’t say that doesn’t seem a bit…unnatural.”

“She  saved your life is what happened!” Jeralt protested.

“I…” the mercenary stammered, “I know these things are always hard to know for sure, but…I saw something flare up behind her when she went on her rampage. It looked…I mean I’ve only seen this once or twice before so I don’t know but…it sure looked like…a crest. The others saw it too.”

Edelgard thought back to her time at Garreg Mach. It was clear from Hanneman’s scans that Byleth bore no crest, but she was still a powerful enough fighter to rival those who did. She could see why a few mercenaries might be curious, especially if she showed such talent at such a young age. That object the mercenary saw flare up behind Byleth might have been a case of weird lighting or even battlefield delirium. Edelgard had heard taller tales from soldiers before, so it didn’t particularly surprise her that this rumor was going around.

Jeralt said nothing. Byleth would have given anything to see what his face looked like.

“Just…who’s child  is she?” the mercenary asked.

“She’s  MY  child!” Jeralt hollered, “How  DARE you ask me that!? I should have you thrown out just for asking such a stupid question!!”

Byleth knew from past experience to take an inconspicuous position back at the picnic table, and did so just in time to see the mercenary storm out of the tent with Jeralt continuing his rant behind her. When he finally said enough, he turned back to Byleth and sat next to her at the table.

“Sorry about that kid,” he said, “these people are great soldiers, but sometimes they can really be thick.”

He grabbed the beer he was working on earlier and started to finish it off.

“What’s a crest?” Byleth asked. Jeralt choked on his drink.

“Nothing,” he assured her, “that woman was delusional, just forget everything you heard her say.”

Over the years, conversations like this would become more and more familiar for Byleth. Although she was never accused of having a “crest” again, she was eventually branded with the name “The Ashen Demon” due to how unsympathetic she appeared to be on the battlefield. It was a name she always hated, it made her sound inhuman.

However if those who called her “Ashen Demon” stayed away from her, then so be it. Another thing Byleth learned over the years following Talia’s death was how to protect her heart. Getting close to someone was like connecting a cable between their two hearts, and as the relationship grew deeper, the cables got thicker. These attachments could be the source of great fulfillment, but they also left wounds when ripped out by sudden events. Whether it be death, circumstance, or the act of running away from her in terror after seeing her perform on the battlefield, Byleth got used to the idea that her relationships never lasted very long. After all, being in a mercenary group didn’t exactly give her friends a good life expectancy.

And this was the way things stayed for a number of years. As Byleth got better and better at deflecting friendships, her reputation grew, and she became regarded like a supernatural entity rather than a normal human being. She fell into a horribly monotonous routine, which consisted of waking up, eating, training the day away, and then fishing alone in the afternoon if her schedule allowed for it. If Jeralt gave her a mission, she would accept it with a nod and then wordlessly execute her task before returning to her routine. It worked well enough, but it was also profoundly lonely. It felt like every day she was killing people just because someone with deep pockets wanted them dead, all so she could pay to live another day and do it all over again. It was starting to wear on her. She was desperate for purpose, and desperate for human connection, but afraid of the risks involved with both.

That was until her life was interrupted by three nobles from Garreg Mach.


	11. Those Beautiful Blue Eyes

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Edelgar'ds trip through Byleth's mind continues. Emotions start to run high.

Byleth’s memories continued to play in Edelgard’s mind. She had already seen the mercenary’s entire childhood, now she was starting to get to her adult life.

Finally , Edelgard thought,  now I might learn something useful.

It was an odd sensation for Edelgard to look at a copy of herself from Byleth’s perspective. It became even more awkward when she realized Byleth was secretly admiring how cute the Edelgard copy looked.

The affair started the same way she remembered it, though she would have sworn Byleth had charged off on her own by now. After some time, Byleth calmly led the three nobles into the forest and assisted them in taking down the bandits together.

That didn’t match Edelgard’s own memories at all. She distinctly remembered Byleth charging off into the forest by herself and slaying the entire bandit brigade like some kind of animal. Is this what it looked like from Byleth’s perspective? No, it couldn’t be. In this version of events all three nobles were fighting the bandits together, and she definitely didn’t remember spilling blood herself that night. That seemed like a detail that would be rather hard to misinterpret.

Then the memory fragmented. First, Edelgard saw Kostas charge at her copy with his axe drawn. Realizing there wasn’t enough time to strike, Byleth opted instead to push Edelgard out of the way, taking the hit herself. Then, just as the axe was about to tear into her flesh, a strange purple glow filled her vision, and next thing Edelgard knew she was replaying the same memory. Kostas charged at the Edelgard copy once more, and Byleth leapt in the way of the strike. This time, however, she managed to turn and block the axe with her sword, knocking it out of Kostas’s hands and sending him flying off his feet.

Edelgard’s head throbbed. This wasn’t how she remembered it at all. She was sure she’d remember Byleth saving her life. And yet, when she gave it some thought, it felt right for some reason. Why did this version of the memory just feel “right” to her?

The memory continued through Byleth’s arrival at Garreg Mach, where she was invited to be Professor of the Black Eagles class. Byleth didn’t take the news of being a professor well, asking if she could do something like join the Knights of Seiros instead. However, Rhea insisted she stay within the safety of the monastery’s classrooms for now. Byleth hung her head, she had no idea how to be a professor…

Edelgard felt a little pity well up inside her as she realized Byleth might really be insane. She never would have guessed Byleth actually believed the story she told on the training grounds about being Edelgard’s professor.

However, that still didn’t explain why Byleth knew so much about Edelgard’s past, and it also didn’t explain the growing feeling that these memories somehow reminded her of something. She saw Byleth approach the young Edelgard copy again. Why did she know this Edelgard was going to say she wished Byleth had joined the Adrestian military?

“So, you’ve accepted a teaching position here,” the Edelgard copy lamented, “Pity, I was hoping you would lend your strength to the Empire.”

Edelgard wondered if being connected to Byleth’s mind made her able to predict what was going to happen next, but she knew deep down that was a flimsy explanation.

Further oddities continued to crop up as the school year went on, everything from Byleth discovering she bore the very Crest of Flames itself to learning she could wield the Sword of the Creator without the crest stone even present. Each one made Edelgard’s eyes roll further back in their sockets. This Byleth woman had really conjured up quite the fantasy for herself hadn’t she?

When she first started teaching, Byleth promised herself she wouldn’t get attached to any of her students, especially if they were going to be doing dangerous field work. However, over time she felt them slowly breaking down the barriers she had so carefully built up around her. Every day the group called her over to join them in the dining hall, or shared another story of their past and current struggles, she felt cords of attachment snake their way further into the vulnerable parts of her heart. They were so kind to her, and she loved watching each and every one of them grow into better versions of themselves.

However, the attachment came at a price. Nearly every night Byleth had nightmares about her students falling in battle in increasingly painful ways. One night she dreamed of Dorothea igniting herself with a botched fire spell. She had never seen a person burn to death in real life before, but that didn’t make the nightmare feel any less real, or any less traumatizing.

Byleth was attached to all her students, but Edelgard was the one she felt the strongest connection to. From the very beginning, Edelgard was there as a valuable assistant. Not only was she an excellent resource on Fodlan’s noble system and the resulting backgrounds of all the students, Edelgard was also Byleth’s ace in the hole on the battlefield when stuck in a position she couldn’t get out of with tactics. Byleth hated putting so much pressure on the already overburdened princess, but no matter what mountain was put in front of Edelgard, she would always manage to climb it. They eventually started a tradition of having tea together every weekend, discussing random bits of battle strategy and weapon theory that Edelgard soaked up with eager attention.

One night, while taking a walk after a particularly bad nightmare, Byleth heard a scream come from Edelgard’s room. She rushed in to see the princess sitting up in bed panting while clutching a special red blanket she liked to sleep with.

“Professor…what are you doing here?” Edelgard asked, doing a surprisingly good job of being nonchalant given the circumstances.

“I heard something,” Byleth responded.

“Oh? Perhaps I was talking in my sleep,” Edelgard said, scrunching her face in mock thought.

“Bad dreams?” Byleth asked.

Edelgard let out a defeated sigh. Present day Edelgard thought it a bit odd she would give in to Byleth’s prodding so easily, but then this was Byleth’s hallucination, not her own.

“In these nightmares, I see my family dying slowly, waiting in the darkest depths for a glimmer of light,” this copy of Edelgard told Byleth.

It didn’t strike present day Edelgard as too odd yet. Though very few people knew what really happened behind closed doors, it was common knowledge that she used to have many siblings who all passed away at roughly the same time. The next memory, however, practically made her heart stop.

“My siblings and I were…we were imprisoned underground, beneath the palace,” the Edelgard copy explained to Byleth, “The objective was to endow our bodies with the power of a Major Crest…”

Present day Edelgard’s head spun as she listened to this Edelgard talk. There was no way Byleth could have have hallucinated such accurate details about her past. And yet, here she was, watching them be explained back to her in perfect detail. A small glimmer of familiarity washed over her, like memories in her own mind crawling out of recesses she didn’t know existed. Her professor, her teacher, who used to dry her tears late at night and make her feel like for the first time in over a decade she might actually be safe in someone’s arms.

Byleth was devastated by the news of Edelgard’s past. She felt a mixture of shock, anger, and helplessness all at the same time. She didn’t know evil this cruel existed in the world, and learning of it shifted her entire paradigm of human nature. She vowed she would do everything she could to help Edelgard find peace, no matter how many nights she had to sacrifice her own sleep to stay up to comfort her, no matter how much extra effort it took. The connection binding Byleth to Edelgard was growing dangerously strong.

A few months later, Byleth was in the library with Rhea, who was teaching her another advanced Faith spell. Byleth, however, barely registered the instructions. When it came time to perform the spell, she couldn’t make it happen.

“You seem to have much on your mind, my child,” Rhea commented, “is there something you wish to discuss?”

Byleth thought about it for a moment.

“Some of my students are going through a lot right now,” she responded. Rhea smiled warmly at her.

“I admire your dedication to your students,” she said, “but do not push yourself too hard for them either. No mortal woman can solve all the world’s problems.”

Byleth tilted her head.

“When a mercenary took an apprentice back home it was expected they’d be there for them 24/7,” she admitted, “anything less feels like slacking.”

“True,” Rhea countered, “but mercenaries usually take 1 student at a time, not 8.”

She put a comforting arm around Byleth.

“During your time here, I’ve come to admire how deeply kind you are,” Rhea praised, “I hope you know that I am similarly always available for you. Please, don’t hesitate to come to me with any struggles you might be facing.”

Byleth felt a warm sensation run through her body, it felt good to be so taken under somebody’s wing like this. Another connection in her heart formed.

The memory jumped forward again and Byleth was sitting in her room, watching the rain through her window. Her father was dead. She thought she had severed all attachments that threatened her heart, but the only reason she survived like that was because she had this one, crucial cable supporting her entire wellbeing. Now that cable had been ripped away, and the very core of her soul was raw with grief.

Her grief affected her ability to teach, and she started coming to class exhausted and unprepared far more often than she liked to admit. Edelgard made an attempt to break her out of the cycle, practically dragging her by the shirt collar to the dining hall and giving her a speech about how she needed to funnel that grief into action. She asked Byleth what her deepest ambitions were, Byleth couldn’t even come up with an answer.

Then, her birthday came along. Edelgard asked her to attend a secret meeting with the rest of the students.

“Surprise!!” the other students cheered as the two of them walked into the Black Eagles classroom. Decorations were hung on each of the walls and a large ice cream cake sat on her desk at the front. Byleth blinked, genuinely confused about what was going on.

“What is this?” Byleth asked, still blinking.

“C’mon, it’s a surprise party!” Caspar yelled, raising his fists above his head and cheering.

“To think you were going to let a special occasion like your birthday go by unannounced!” Dorothea scolded, “It’s a good thing Edie noticed it on the bulletin board calendar.”

Byleth nervously fiddled with the straps of her uniform.

“Wh…what’s a surprise party?” she stammered. The rest of the class exchanged incredulous glances.

“Do you mean to tell us you’ve never been to a surprise party before?” Edelgard asked, stepping forward to look her professor in the eye. Byleth shook her head no.

“That is alright professor, I am also learning of this tradition,” Petra chimed in cheerfully, “let us be learning together shall we?”

“Well, I guess I’m going to have to teach you two how to have a good time then!” Dorothea huffed, putting her hands on her hips.

The night was filled with fun and feasting. They told embarrassing stories about their pasts and played a number games, though Petra was disappointed to learn that playing spin the bottle and being kissed by Dorothea was not actually a tradition at Fodlan birthday parties and that it would not be happening like it did on the night of the Grand Ball.

As the festivities began to die down, Bernadetta tugged on Edelgard’s sleeve.

“Did you bring the amulet?” she whispered.

“Oh, I almost forgot!” Edelgard exclaimed. She reached under the front desk and produced a wrapped box she presented to Byleth. Byleth opened it and saw a brilliant ruby pendant with a beaded silver chain and the Black Eagles logo embossed in the stone at the bottom. She turned it over to examine the back and saw her students’ tiny initials engraved in it, each in their own handwriting. She took it out of the box and felt its weight, she couldn’t imagine how much something like this cost.

“We originally said we were all going to pitch in to buy your present,” Dorothea chimed in, “but in all honesty Edie paid for most of it.”

Edelgard waved the idea away with her hand.

“My father bought the pendant,” she corrected Dorothea, “and he has more money than he’ll ever know what to do with.”

“Do you…like it?” Bernadetta asked hesitantly.

Byleth blinked and a tear rolled down her cheek, then another, and then they started coming in an avalanche she couldn’t control.

“If you don’t like it I can send it back to my father to have it modified,” Edelgard sighed.

“No…I…love it,” Byleth choked out through her tears, “I love it and I -*sniff*- I love all of you.”

The first wave of true happiness since her father passed away washed over Byleth when she opened that gift, and a small seed of understanding started to form deep in her heart. Although these connections left wounds when ripped away, they were ultimately what made her happiness possible. Her heart would forever bear the scars of those she lost, but paradoxically it was now her new connections that helped the old wounds heal.

A few hours later, Byleth and Edelgard were alone in the classroom, mopping up spills and sweeping up bits of food that had been stomped into the ground during the party.

“I can’t believe they left this place such a mess,” Edelgard lamented, “and I can’t believe they left  you behind to clean it up!”

Byleth couldn’t help but grin.

“Seteth would be mad,” she smirked.

She noticed Edelgard staring at her just a moment too long.

“Is something wrong?” Byleth asked.

Edelgard shook her head.

“It’s just…that’s the first time I’ve seen you smile since…well…” she trailed off, not entirely sure how to word the rest.

Byleth dumped the last bit of party leftovers she picked up into the sack they were using to collect trash.

“That’s it,” she said looking around the room, “thank you Edelgard.”

“Again, don’t mention it,” Edelgard responded, “like I said, you’re the last person that should have to pick everything up.”

She thought for a moment.

“And professor…instead of Edelgard, you can call me just El. If you so please. That’s what my parents and closest sisters used to call me when I was little,” she continued, “Now there are precious few people left who still call me El…but with you, well…I think I could allow it. In fact, it would mean a great deal to me.”

Byleth nodded.

“Of course,” she said.

Byleth’s heart stayed aflutter all night. No matter how much time went by or how many students she taught, Byleth knew she would always regard this first class as special.

The timeline of events was starting to come back to present day Edelgard. Learning under Byleth and finding comfort in her presence, Kronya stabbing Byelth’s father in the back, presenting the amulet to Byleth at her birthday party, that meant what came next should be…

Another memory transition and Edelgard stood opposing Byleth in the Holy Tomb, wearing her Flame Emperor regalia.

“How could you do this?” Byleth asked weakly.

“This is the first step towards removing those who would stunt Fodlan's growth for their own personal gain,” Edelgard explained.

Byleth struggled to hold back more tears.

“We would have been happy to hunt down your old captors!” Byleth cried, “Instead you’re working with them!? I don’t understand!”

“I didn’t expect you to,” Edelgard sighed, “now will you stand down, or do I have to fight you as well?”

“Please don’t do this…” Byleth sobbed.

Without warning, Edelgard brandished her axe and struck Byleth in the head with the hilt. It was only enough to knock her onto her knees, but it gave Hubert the time to warp in and put a hand on Edelgard’s shoulder, ready to warp her out. Edelgard looked down at Byleth one last time.

“My teacher, I’m sorry we couldn’t walk this path together,” she said solemnly, “However, each of us must choose our own future, and the two of us have chosen paths that cannot coexist. I’m afraid when we next meet, one of us will breathe our last.”

With that, Hubert whisked her away to who knows where, and Byleth was left alone. She stared dumbfounded at the floor. It was difficult to even process, there was just so much she didn’t understand. She felt a hand touch her shoulder from behind.

“Everything will be alright my child,” Rhea reassured her, “come, you should get some rest.”

Another flash forward ans Byleth stood over an injured Edelgard at the Imperial Palace. With the capture of Enbarr the war had more or less been won, there was only one piece of business left to take care of.

“It looks at though…my path…will end here,” Edelgard wheezed, incapacitated by a combination of wounds and exhaustion, “my teacher…claim your victory.”

Byleth shook her head and offered a hand out to Edelgard.

“Come back with us,” she whispered.

Edelgard looked down at the floor.

“You still…don’t understand,” she said, “War rages across this land…if you do not act now, this conflict…will go on forever.”

She looked back up at Byleth, years of fatigue apparent in her lilac eyes.

“Like it or not, your path…lies across my grave…it is time for you…to find the courage to walk it.”

Byleth stubbornly kept her hand held out to Edelgard. Edelgard nodded in understanding.

“My teacher…” she whispered, taking a hidden dagger out from the back of her regalia, “thank you…for everything…”

Before Byleth could react Edelgard plunged the dagger into her own chest, a spatter of blood escaping her lips as the blade hit its mark.

“EL DON’T!!!” Byleth yelled, catching the Emperor before she hit the floor.

Edelgard leaned into Byleth’s embrace, looking up at her teacher with a smile.

“You…called me El…” the words were barely a whisper, “that…that means more than…”

Before she could finish, Edelgard’s body went slack in Byleth’s arms. Once sure she was dead, Byleth closed her student’s eyes and held her body close to her chest. Poor, poor Edelgard. Tortured all her life, all the way until the end. Byleth couldn’t save her like she promised, Byleth couldn’t protect her like she promised. It was just another series of broken promises.

She wished, wished more than anything else in the world, to give the girl another chance. For a brief moment the idea of Divine Pulsing back in time flashed across her mind. She tried to will herself to activate the power, but couldn’t get past her mental blocks. Was it even possible to go that far back? How far would she even go? What would she even say to make things happen differently?

Though deep down, she knew what was holding her back most was the idea of being forced to watch Edelgard die again. There was no way she’d be able to handle that a second time.

Present day Edelgard could feel her energy being sucked dry. The toll of using enough magic to draw out this much history was apparent, and it caused her pain she could feel even through Byleth’s memories. She stubbornly held on. She  had  to know what became of Fodlan, and of Byleth, after her death. The next collection of memories went by in a blur.

A Shadow Library deep beneath the Church’s surface…

A stack of banned books surrounding, with Byleth in the center…

And finally, Lady Rhea staring back at her, eyes burning with anger, holding one of these dangerous books in front of Byleth.

“You were…one of the few people I trusted!” Rhea shouted between sobs.

“I still care for y-” Byleth started.

“ DON’T LIE TO ME!! ” Rhea screamed. Her voice sounded distant and distorted.

“Lady Rhea…I…” was all Byleth could get out before Rhea was shrouded in light. She let out an agonizing scream and transformed into the Immaculate One in Byleth’s dorm. The structure of the room as well as a few next to it were shattered, and Byleth was thrown into the pathway outside. Rhea’s body glowed with a red aura Byleth had never seen, not even in her bestial form. Panic began to set in across the monastery as people saw what was happening.

“LADY RHEA!!” Byleth yelled up to her, but Rhea continued to destroy the buildings around her.

Out of the corner of her eye, Byleth saw Flayn run up to the rampaging beast.

“Flayn no!!” she called out, but Flayn either didn’t hear her or ignored her.

“Auntie!!” she cried out, “Auntie it’s me!! It’s Cethlean! Please, stop this!!”

Rhea turned and struck Flayn with a clawed hand, sending her careening into a piece of wall that still stood amongst the student dorms. Byleth could see a green bloodstain where her head hit the stone.

Byleth stood stunned for a brief moment. This was  not Rhea, at least not the Rhea Byleth knew. She had read about Nabateans losing themselves to their powers in her research, was that what she was witnessing now? There was no other explanation. Slowly, tearfully, Byleth drew her sword once more. It turned out she had one more battle to fight…

Byleth trembled in the remains of the Garreg Mach reception hall, her wounds too great to even take another step. She hugged her chest with both arms, rocking back and forth on her knees. Her breathing came in short gasps while her whole body trembled. It was always the same routine again and again and again and again and again and again and again. She wanted to reach out to the universe, grab it by the neck and demand to know why her life had to be like this. She reached for the pendant that she still wore around her neck and examined the initials on the back. Every one of them was dead. Every one of them another broken promise. Every one of them a wound on her already tattered heart.

Is that what life was? If so, what was the point of it all? Why did she bother to fight through it if what was on the other side was just more pain?

A conversation with Edelgard resurfaced in her mind. Shortly after Jeralt’s death, Edelgard told her to re-examine her ambitions and channel her grief into the energy to see them through. At the time Byleth couldn’t tell her what her ambitions were, but now she knew. Her goal in life, her reason for living, was to protect those who were important to her, and that’s what she would continue to do until her dying breath. Once more, she lifted her head. Once more, she vowed to move forward.

She calculated that she’d have to go back just shy of 7 years to truly start where at all began. Seteth had warned her at the end of the war that if she used Divine Pulse’s power for more than a day’s worth of time travel it might burn the crest stone in her heart beyond use. Byleth wasn’t about to let that stop her. With a deep breath she steeled her nerves, and focused on the time she needed to go back to.

Byleth felt she would never get used to the feeling of Divine Pulse. It was as if something deep in her heart trembled, sending a rippling, tingling sensation through the rest of her body. She steeled her thoughts on the desired time, bracing for more of the same. She couldn’t have been more wrong. As soon as the familiar purple glow filled her vision, a searing, burning pain pierced her heart…

* * *

Edelgard finally collapsed, exhausted beyond words. Her vision faded in an out and her head felt like it might split open.

“Lady Edelgard!” she heard the cry from somewhere nearby and soon after felt Hubert pick her up and support her with his shoulder, “Lady Edelgard, are you hurt? Please answer me!”

Breathlessly, she lowered Hubert’s hand to reassure him and slowly raised her head to take a closer look at the woman sitting before them. She stared into Byleth’s deep blue eyes, such caring eyes that even now looked down on her with concern instead of anger. Edelgard had spent her whole life dreaming of finding someone she could lean on in even the most grueling of times. How could she forget that that someone was with her all along?

“M…my….teacher?” was all Edelgard could weakly get out.

For the second time in her entire life, Edelgard saw the Ashen Demon cry.


End file.
